To Sacrifice A Phoenix
by alias of a girl
Summary: Blood of darkness, soul of flame. This shadow princess won't go down. Not without a fight. RikuOC
1. Chapter 1: Strange Dreams

**Chapter 1: These Strange Dreams**

The world was red, though this seemed perfectly natural to Riku at the time. There was a figure standing a ways in front of him. He walked towards them, and noticed three phoenixes circling over the person. Once he got closer, he could see that the figure was a girl, about his age, with long dark hair. She was standing with her back to him and was talking to him. He didn't have the slightest clue as to what she was talking about, but at the same time he understood what she was saying completely. He tried to walk around her so he could see her face. He swore he could have walked around her five times yet no matter how far around her he went, he always seemed to have to go just that much farther to get all the way around and see her face. He gave up and settled with just listening. A few moments later (or was it a few hours? He couldn't tell, time seemed more or less meaningless here) a pair of shadowy men sprung up from the ground. One was a few inches taller than the girl, and the second, standing behind the first, stood a good ten feet tall. The larger one pointed at her and she stopped talking to Riku and started yelling at the shadow. He let out a cackle and shouted out an indiscernible order. The smaller shadow raised his hands and fire rose around the girl. She let out a scream, covering her head with her hands. A moment later, the flickering orange and red fire turned blue flickering with white. The rest of the world changed colour with it, and the three phoenixes, who were now also made up of blue fire, circled lower. Eventually they were flying circles around the girl, who, now engulfed in the blue flames, was watching the shadows intently. The three phoenixes began to spiral outward. As the circle grew wider, the shadows backed away. Riku watched, horrified, as one of the fire birds flew at him. He covered his head with his arms, but found himself feeling only a cool tingling for a moment, and the bird passed through him, harming neither he nor the bird. The shadows, however, seemed to have much more dire effects when coming in contact with these birds. The three phoenixes chased them around in circles, much to the amusement of the girl. Two of the phoenixes caught up with the smaller shadow, destroying both of the birds as well as the shadow when they collided. The larger shadow approached him, still being pursued by the last phoenix, and Riku found himself holding a sword with a blade made of the same blue fire that everything else was. With a single strike the larger shadow was wounded mortally, and the phoenix collided with it, both disappearing in a wisp of white smoke. The girl was facing him now, but her face was hidden in the shadow cast by the blue fire still burning in the center of the circle. She opened her mouth to speak, and Riku's eyes snapped open. He lay in his bed for a long moment, breathing hard, and wondering what a dream like that could have meant. It was so unreal, and yet at the same time, so familiar, so prophetic…

…………………………………………………………………………

The western horizon was still glowing with the remnants of sun, purple and pink blending into blue and dancing across the water towards Riku. He was standing against the paopu tree, arms crossed, watching the ballet of light across the sea. Behind him rose the mountain at the center of the island and the indigo blue speckled with shining white as the sky began to darken into night. Sitting on the tree next to him were Sora and Kairi. The two of them were totally absorbed in each other; Sora was sitting with his back against the trunk and Kairi was sitting leaning against his chest, nestled comfortably in his arms. A smile tugged at the corners of Riku's lips.

"Finally." He said with a sigh. Sora blinked at him.

"Huh?" Riku's smile became a grin.

"Took you two long enough." He spoke casually. Kairi raised her eyebrows, frowning.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked, sounding slightly cross.

"It means I'm glad I don't have to listen to you two complain about unrequited love, and how guys are thickheaded and girls just don't get it, and how life's not fair and whatever else it was that the two of you whined at me about." Both Kairi and Sora were grinning. Within moments, they were paying all too much attention to each other. Riku shook his head, stuffed his hands into his pockets and walked away, heading towards the cove. He was looking for Wakka; he wanted to learn how to play blitzball. Halfway across the beach, he realized just how dark it was. He couldn't exactly learn to blitz in the dark. The light had disappeared surprisingly fast. Frowning, he leaned back against one of he palm trees and looked up as the sky. He looked back out at the horizon and saw a figure burst out of the water only about 5 feet from the shore. She let out a sharp cry and staggered onto the beach, dropping to her knees once there. Instantly Riku was jogging towards her.

"Hey! Are you alright?" He asked, approaching her. He knelt in front of her and she looked up. She was on her knees and she planted her hands firmly on the ground, bracing herself against dizziness. She had thick black makeup around her eyes, the style exotic and ancient. Or it would have been exotic and ancient looking had it not run down her cheeks, tracing a path for her tears. Her thick black hair hung wet around her shoulders, soaking her clothes, which was a simply-fashioned white dress of silk. There were splatters of red across it that were unmistakable. There were what had to be hundreds of shallow cuts across her inner forearms, in a seemingly random pattern. They were barely enough to draw blood, but the little blood that was flowing was diluted by the salt water. It would have been the equivalent of rubbing salt into the wounds. She was wearing thick gold jewelry and for all accounts looked much like an exiled Egyptian princess. Strands of her hair stuck to her forehead. She looked pale and exhausted.

"Where am I?" She asked, her question barely coming out as a murmur.

"You're on the Destiny Islands. I'm Riku." He said slowly, inspecting the cuts on her arms. A potion would heal them, he knew, but there would be scars and there was nothing they could do about it now. She smiled weakly.

"Skye." She whispered. "My name's Skye. I'm running from…" Her voice faded away and she looked for a moment like she was going to faint. Riku frowned, thinking.

"You're running from…?" He urged quietly. She blinked and began to sway.

"I can't…remember…" Her words came out as a low moan as her arms gave way and she dropped. He drew in a sharp breath and caught her. She started to cough, holding his shoulders for support. She groaned and closed her eyes, her head drooping. He shook her gently.

"Come on, you have to stay awake for now. We'll find you somewhere to sleep soon, but we have to find out where you came from first."

"I don't remember where I came from. All I remember is running away from someone, and they were shouting my name. I fell and landed in water, and I ended up here." As she spoke, Kairi and Sora came into view, running down the beach and waving at him.

"Riku! There you are! We were wondering where you went!" Kairi called out to him, grinning. Under normal circumstances, Riku would have answered with something like 'You can't have missed me much, since it took you that long to even realize I was gone.' These, however, were not normal circumstances.

"Come here!" He called instead, waving them over. As the two approached, they broke into a run when they saw Skye.

"What happened?" Kairi asked, sounding worried.

"Who is she?" Sora asked next, not giving Riku the chance to answer Kairi's question. Skye lifted her head slowing.

"My name's Skye." She answered, her voice cracking as she spoke. "I'm running from someone." Her voice portrayed her exhaustion.

"Running from who?" Sora asked, frowning.

"She doesn't remember." Riku answered, shaking his head. Kairi crossed her arms.

"We can find all this out later. She's tired, so we have to find her somewhere to stay." She told them matter-of-factly. Sora rubbed the back of his neck, thinking.

"I wish we were in Traverse Town. The hotel there would be perfect. And Cid would probably love the company, since not very many people come around there any more. But that's too far away." He said, more thinking out loud than actually making a suggestion. Riku blinked, surprised at himself for not thinking of it before.

"I know! Grandma would love to have her. Her most recent boarder just moved out, and she's having a hard time finding someone new. She'd love to have her." He said, standing up and helping the half asleep Skye to her feet. She looked like she was sleeping standing up. Sora and Riku stood on either side of her, with her arms around their shoulders, helping her down the beach, while Kairi went ahead to Riku's grandmother's house to let her know that she'd be having company.

………………………………………

Riku's grandmother was the epitome of grandmotherly-ness. She was a plump woman with hair that was so grey it looked white, which she kept short and curled. She always had an apron on and was famous for her baked goods, especially her pies. It was a rare occurrence to see her without flour turning her skin white up to her elbows. She loved to play grandmother to everyone, and every person under the age of 20 was practically expected to call her "Grandma", despite her actually only having one grandson, Riku. Her name was Rose. She fussed over everyone, though she fussed over girls most often since the girls were more prone to allow her to fuss over them. It was rare for any boy to not shoo her away if she started to fuss over their hair or clothes or food or whatever she happened to have picked for that particular situation. Her house was quaint and beautiful, with a big front porch, where, if she wasn't cooking or baking, you'd find her sewing or reading or even sometimes watching the sunrise. She usually rented out her upper floor to students, but after the young woman who had been boarding went back home, there hadn't been anyone to rent the upstairs, and Rose greatly disliked the idea of having to stay alone. Kairi jumped up onto the porch and knocked loudly on the little white door. Grandma Rose opened the door and smiled.

"Good evening Kairi!" She greeted, noting the teen's heavy breathing. "Were you in a hurry?" She asked, sounding amused.

"A girl collapsed on the beach!" Kairi blurted out. Rose's face fell.

"Oh dear, what happened?"

"We don't even know! Riku found her! We don't even know where she's from, and I don't think she knows where she's from either. And she was bleeding! Riku and Sora are bringing her, she's falling asleep standing up. But there's nowhere for her to stay, so can she maybe stay with you? Riku said—." Kairi explained, talking much too fast, to be interrupted by the old woman.

"Of course she can stay here. Where are Sora and Riku?" As if to answer her question, a pair of voices drew their attention from down the street.

"GRANDMA!" Looking in the direction of the shouting, they saw Riku and Sora struggling to carry a teenage girl dressed in white. With new help from Kairi and Grandma Rose, they got the unconscious girl into the house and into a bedroom where they left her to sleep. Back down stairs, in a kitchen that smelled temptingly of cookies and chocolate, the three teens sat down at the table while Rose took her peanut butter cookies out of the oven. She stacked the baked goodies onto a plate and sat down at the table as well, taking one of them and munching thoughtfully.

"Tell me exactly what happened." She said after a moment, looking at each of them. Sora and Kairi instantly looked at Riku.

"I was at the cove looking for Wakka. She came stumbling out of the water and collapsed onto the sand. I went to help her and she asked me where she was. I told her and then I asked her who she was. Her name's Skye. She said she was running from someone." Riku answered. "That's when Sora and Kairi showed up. We tried to figure out somewhere to have her stay, and this was the first place I thought of."

"Well…" Rose breathed, thinking again. "She can stay here as long as she likes. I can imagine that once she's feeling up to it, she'll want to go home."

"I don't think she knows where she's from." Kairi said quietly. There was a long silence.

"Then I hope someone comes for the poor girl." Rose said sadly.

"I'm not so sure that's a good thing to hope for. She said she was running from someone, remember? And she doesn't even know who it is she's running from." Riku answered. There was another, even longer silence.

"Poor girl." Rose repeated.

The conversation around the table ended up lasting much longer than anyone had anticipated. It was midnight when Sora and Kairi left. Riku stayed a little longer and ended up falling asleep on the couch. Rose called his house and let his parents know where he was, and then went off to bed herself.

…………………………………………………………………………..

Skye was standing in the middle of a forest, and it was all aflame. She looked around at the fire that was burning the trees and underbrush for as far as the eyes could see. She was standing in a small area that hadn't yet begun burning, though the sparks raining down on her would catch soon enough. She looked wildly around. She wasn't worried about getting herself out, but something inside her was nagging, telling her that she wasn't the only one in the forest. Someone she was looking for, and someone who was looking for her. There was a shout from a good distance away, and she bolted towards it. Holding her arms over her head as a feeble protection, she ran into the fire. It didn't burn her, which she normally would have found odd, but her need to find whoever she was looking for overwhelmed everything else. Stumbling into a burning clearing, she saw two people locked in battle. A man in a black cloak emerged out of the fire on the other side of the clearing and both of the fighters stopped and stared at him. One of them raised his sword against the shadowy figure, and immediately the other raised his sword against the first. The two slashed down at the same time. Skye squeezed her eyes shut, shouting.

"No!" There was the crash of a burning branch crashing to the ground. Her eyes snapped open. The fighter who had attacked the shadow was standing in a small space that wasn't burning, but the flames were rapidly advancing. The other fighter and the shadow were gone. The only one left began to back away from one wall of flame, only to find another rising at his back. The fire surrounded Skye, but it didn't bother her at all. She took a step forward and the fire pulled back, seeming to clear a path for her. She stared at the path for a moment, and then walked carefully towards the figure. The person turned to face her, but their face was veiled in shadow against the flames. The next moment, the ground became less and less substantial, sinking with the weight of her, until she began to feel insubstantial herself. The forest was gone, and so was the fighter. Her eyes fluttered shut.

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How do you like my first chapter? I wish I'd been able to introduce Skye a little better, but I guess that will have to wait until next chappie. Until then, RR!


	2. Chapter 2: Boys Have Hormones

**Chapter 2: Boys Have Hormones**

A knock on the door pulled Skye out of her deep sleep. She'd had the strangest dream…but like everything else, it slipped away from her before she could make heads or tails of it. Her memories were doing that as well: any memory that was from before she arrived on the Islands would pass through her mind, but before she could understand it, it would slip away again. Frowning, she sat up. There was another knock, this time followed by a voice.

"Good morning! Are you decent?" A woman called through the door. Skye looked down at herself. She was still wearing her clothes from the night before.

"Yes." She called in answer. The door opened and a kindly woman entered the room.

"Good morning. I'm Grandma Rose, Riku's grandmother. Feeling any better?" The woman asked.

"Yes." Skye answered shyly, overwhelmed. She could vaguely remember getting to the house, and even more vaguely seeing this grandmother figure as she and three others had helped her into the house.

"Here are some clothes for you to change into; I can imagine you'll want to get out of that dress. They're some of Kairi's old things. They're all too small for her, so I hope they fit. The bathroom's just down the hall, just so you know. Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes, come down to the kitchen once you're ready, alright?"

"A-alright." Skye said, slightly awed at how much this woman was willing to do for a girl that ha appeared on the beach with no explanation only the night before. Rose smiled at her and left, shutting the door softly behind her. Skye pulled herself out of bed and picked up the clothes. Pulling off the blood stained dress, she looked down at her arms. There were remnants of the cuts there, thin white marks against tan skin. She could tell from just looking at them and the tiny pinpoint scabs forming that the cuts were nowhere near deep enough to have bled like that all over the dress. She frowned down at the red on white crumple of cloth lying on the floor. The blood, then, couldn't be her own. She froze, a million different possibilities spilling into her brain. She shook them off as best she could. _I won't be able to figure it out until I can remember where I came from, so until then, I'm not going to think about it._ She decided, pulling on the short jean skirt. It fit perfectly. She'd always been small for her age. The shirt, a burgundy halter top with a pair of paopu fruit on it, was almost too big. She washed up in the bathroom and then, finally deciding that she was ready, she walked down the stairs. She found Riku in the kitchen already, eating cereal.

"Gmerfin." He greeted incompreshensibly. He swallowed the mouthful of cereal and grinned sheepishly. "Morning." He repeated, this time understandably. She grinned back at him.

"G'morning." As she spoke, she sat down and Rose walked in.

"Well, good morning to the two of you. Riku tells me your name is Skye?"

"Yes."

"Very pretty name. Would you like some breakfast?" Rose asked, now standing in front of the sink.

"Thank you, and yes please." Skye answered, smiling. She took an empty seat at the table. Rose looked through her cupboards.

"Is cereal alright? I don't have any other food in my house, I have to go shopping today." She asked, her voice slightly muffled.

"That's great. Thank you so much for doing all this for me." Skye answered gratefully.

"Not a problem! It's wonderful to have someone else in this house again." Rose said, smiling kindly at her and placing a bowl in front of her. She ate quietly, acutely aware that Riku's eyes were on her. Finally, he spoke.

"Do you want a tour of the Islands?" He offered, standing up to put his bowl in the sink. Skye nodded.

"Sure!" She finished her own breakfast, put her dishes away after Riku and followed him out of the house. Standing outside, he shaded his eyes and looked around, frowning.

"Okay, so maybe there isn't anything interesting to show you." He said. She grinned. He sighed. "Well, my house is the one on the corner, Kairi lives across from me and Sora lives there, two doors down. We usually hang out on the other Islands, this one's kind of boring." He and Skye walked down the road towards the docks where Riku's boat was tied up.

"So, who exactly are Sora and Kairi?" She asked sheepishly. Riku grinned and helped her into the boat.

"Sorry. They're my two best friends, both a year younger than me. How old are you anyways?" He asked, pushing off from the dock.

"17." Skye answered, trailing her fingers over the surface of the water. Riku blinked at her.

"You're the same age as me? But…" He stared at her, surprised.

"I'm short? I know." She said, smirking. Riku was still gaping at her. She crossed her arms. "Come on, it's not like I'm even that short." As she spoke, the boat thudded against the wood of the dock. Both of them stood up and she looked up at him, realizing that she was at the very least a full head shorter than him. He stepped up onto the dock.

"You're not?" He asked, faking surprise. She sighed.

"Okay fine I'm short. But short people are cool too." She told him matter-of-factly. He led her off the dock and onto the beach.

"I never said they weren't" He spoke quietly, grinning and putting a finger to his lips, signaling for her to be quiet. She watched, slightly confused, until she saw two people standing on the shore not far away. Riku approached them from behind until he was standing barely inches behind the amber-haired boy.

"Kai?" He was saying. His companion, the dark haired girl, smiled.

"Mhm?"

"I love you." He said, blushing slightly.

"Well, isn't that cute." Riku said, chuckling. Both of them yelped, jumping away from him.

"RIKU!" The girl scolded. "You ruined the moment!" She pouted. Skye, who had come up behind Riku, was laughing helplessly at the looks on their faces. Riku's grin widened.

"That's Kairi and Sora." He said. Skye nodded. Sora rolled his eyes.

"You need to get yourself a girl." He stated. Riku raised an eyebrow.

"Really." He said, crossing his arms, wondering what reasoning his younger friend could have for that comment. Kairi laid eyes on Skye, who was still standing next to Riku.

"Hey, I'm Kairi! Come on, I'll show you around if you want." She offered. Skye smiled at her.

"Thanks but Riku—." She started to say before Kairi interrupted her.

"I think him and Sora are a bit busy." She noted. Skye looked over at the boys. Riku was trying to throw Sora in the water. Sora was trying to turn the tables. Kairi giggled. "Let's go, before we get dragged into the fray."

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The two girls had covered the whole Island, and then gone back to Kairi's house, where the girls changed into bathing suits and then put their clothes back over top, planning to go for a dip later. By the time they'd gotten back, Wakka had shown up and was teaching Sora and Riku blitzball basics. The two girls stood on the dock, tying up the boat, when a strained voice came from behind them.

"Look out!" It was Sora. Spinning around, Skye saw the blitzball coming flying at her. She let out a gasp and knocked it away. It veered off in another direction, gaining speed. Riku popped out of the water at a very inopportune time, and both Kairi and Skye cringed. It hit him square on the back of the head. Sora and Wakka started laughing at him. He dove under the water and resurfaced closer to the docks.

"Thanks." He said dully while Skye grinned sheepishly. Kairi shrugged it off.

"We're going swimming at the cove. See you guys later." She told them, motioning for Skye to follow her. Wakka swam towards the shore and stood up.

"Wait a minute, ya? You gonna introduce me?" He asked Kairi, motioning towards Skye. Kairi nodded.

"Right, okay. Wakka, this is Skye. She just got here last night. Skye, this is Wakka. He never goes anywhere without his blitzball." She said. Skye smiled at him.

"Nice to meet you."

"You too, ya? See you later, these two still need loads of coaching." He said, grinning. Sora kicked water up at him.

"I'm not that bad! At least I'm better than Riku!" He said indignantly. Riku laughed.

"You wish." All three guys disappeared back underwater as the two girls crossed the beach and through the beach house. On the other side, they crossed the bridge and headed down to the cove. Kairi tossed the bag with towels and things on the white sand and changed out of her clothes, Skye following suit. Kairi had on a white bikini and Skye had on a red one. Skye waded out into the water up to her knees before making a shallow dive. As she surfaced, Kairi stepped out into the water. She put her air mattress out on the water and carefully sat down on it. She grinned.

"Hey I didn't fall off!" She announced. Skye grinned back at her.

"Umm? Good job?" She said, sounding slightly unsure of what to say. Kairi leaned forward so that she could paddle out to where Skye was floating on her back, and immediately the mattress flipped over, dumping Kairi into the water. She surfaced, sputtering. Skye laughed helplessly. Kairi pouted and tried to get back on again. She fell off, again. She tried again multiple times, slowly but surely drifting out further from the shore and closer to Skye. Finally, Skye held it still as Kairi scrambled on. Even then, she still fell off. She spouted water out of her mouth and made a face.

"Salt water tastes icky." She announced. Skye grinned at her, and in one smooth motion, pulled herself onto the air mattress and crossed her legs. Kairi gaped at her.

"It's not fair!" She decided, pulling herself up onto the mattress in a much less graceful fashion. She finally got herself sitting down comfortably and pouted. Skye grinned.

"At least this time you didn't fall off." She observed. Immediately, Kairi's expression brightened.

"You're right!" She grinned and then, moving and adjusting her position slightly, she lay down on her stomach. Skye followed suit, laying on her back and looking up at the clouds. There was a long pause.

"It's so nice here." Skye commented quietly. Kairi nodded.

"I love these Islands. It's funny, two years ago, all we could ever think of was leaving, going adventuring on other worlds. We certainly got our wish, but not the way we wanted it. The Heartless came." She said. Skye looked at her.

"The Heartless…? Where have I heard that before?" She asked, frowning with thought. Kairi looked surprised.

"You haven't heard of the Heartless? Oh, right, you don't remember. You know, I didn't always live here. I came from a world called Hollow Bastion, but I couldn't remember anything about where I came from before either." She said.

"Do you remember now?" Skye asked.

"Yep. I remembered two years ago." Kairi answered.

"When the Heartless came?"

"No, when I went to Hollow Bastion."

"Oh. What are Heartless, anyways?"

………………………………………………………

The two girls lay on the air mattress for a long time, talking mostly about what had happened to Kairi during that time two years before, but also talking about what little Skye could remember about where she was from, and what it could mean.

"All I remember is running as fast as I could, and the only thought on my mind was getting away from him." Skye said.

"Who's him?" Kairi asked.

"I don't know. But I was running like my life depended on it, and he was yelling all sorts of threats after me. Then I remember falling and hitting water. At first the water was freezing, but then it got slowly warmer and saltier, until I ended up over there." She answered pointing. Kairi ran a finger over the surface of the water.

"I wonder who he was? And what he could want with you? Well, I don't think he could follow you here. It sounds like pure luck that you even ended up here." She said, sounding like she was thinking aloud. Skye nodded.

"It's a good thing I ended up here." She agreed. Kairi grinned.

"Right. We'll take good care of you."

……………………………………………………….

Wakka stepped out of the water and onto the beach.

"Okay, next lesson: how to get the water out of your lungs." He took a step and then kicked his legs up, ending up on his hands on the sand. He took a deep breath and sneezed, spraying water everywhere. Sora laughed and Riku made a face.

"Bleh." The older teen stepped out of the water and sat down, taking a deep breath and holding it in. Wakka shook his head.

"It works a lot better if you do a hand stand, man." He said, shaking his head. Riku shrugged and breathed out, spouting water out of his mouth. He cleared his throat and stood up.

"Thanks for the tip." He said, grinning. Sora came out of the water and tried to imitate Riku. He started to cough and sputter. Still making choking sounds, he cleared his throat and shook his head.

"That didn't work so well." He stated, his voice cracking and still choked. He cleared his throat again and grinned sheepishly. Wakka grinned back at him.

"We'll work on that, ya? I'm off to see Lu." He said, waving absently and walking away. Lulu was a goth who had appeared with him after the Islands were rebuilt. Selphie, too, had reappeared with the quiet Irvine. Tidus had reappeared for a short while too, but disappeared again shortly after Sora and Riku's return. Sora and Riku were left on the beach.

"Wanna head down to the cove?" Sora suggested. Riku nodded.

"Sure, Kairi and Skye said they'd be there." He replied. The two walked through the beachhouse and across the bridge. As they headed around the tower, Riku elbowed Sora and motioned towards the water. Kairi was lying on the air mattress, relaxing in the sun, in a bikini.

"Nice view huh?" Riku teased, smirking. Sora elbowed him back, turning red. The two started walking out onto the beach when Skye surfaced and pulled herself out of the water and onto the mattress. She pulled all of her black hair over her shoulder and twisted the water out of it before lying back on the mattress with Kairi. Sora smirked as he caught Riku watching.

"Nice view huh?" He echoed, grinning evilly.


	3. Chapter 3: Water Fights

**Chapter 3: Water Fights**

Skye was lying down next to Kairi on the air mattress, relaxing. She grinned.

"I think Sora's staring at you." She stated. Kairi turned her head slightly and opened an eye a little.

"Riku's staring at you." She answered matter-of-factly. Skye sat up and saw the two guys on the beach poking fun at each other.

"HEY!" She shouted, waving. Both of them stopped and turned to look at her. Kairi sat up next to her, tried to wave, and immediately fell off the mattress. She pouted and Skye grinned, offering her a hand up. Kairi took it and tried to climb up. She scrambled up so that she had one leg on the mattress and the other was still dangling in the water. Sticking out her tongue in her effort, she swung her leg up, and instead of bringing her leg up onto the mattress, managed to pull the entire thing over, sending Skye tumbling into the water with a splash. She surfaced, giggling. Sora and Riku were laughing at them from the beach. Skye smirked at them.

"I'd like to see you guys try to get on this thing!" She told them, defending Kairi. Riku raised an eyebrow.

"Is that a dare?" He asked, eyes flashing. She nodded. He and Sora looked at each other and grinned. They were wearing their swimming suits from playing blitzball with Wakka, and each a t-shirt. They pulled off their shirts, threw them aside and dove in. They looked for all accounts like they were racing each other. Knowing them, they probably were. Kairi and Skye were floating on their backs, trying to keep track of the blurry shadows underwater that were Sora and Riku. Kairi looked around.

"Where'd they go?" She asked, frowning. Skye shrugged.

"I don't know. They can't stay underwater forever." She answered. There was a pause, and Kairi let out a yelp that was cut short by her head going underwater. Skye sat up, starting to tread water and looking around. "Kairi?" She asked, confused. Just then, fingers closed around her ankle pulled. She gasped, taking a breath before she dropped into the water. Exhaling bubbles, she allowed her eyes to open. The salty water stung a little, but not nearly as much as she had expected. The first thing she saw was a very smug looking Riku grinning at her. She stuck her tongue out at him and tried to ask him what happened to Kairi, though her words came out only as bubbles. He looked amused at her attempt, but seemed to know what she wanted anyways, and pointed. Turning around, she saw Sora and Kairi, suspended in the water, in each others arms. She grinned in spite of her self, and started when Riku shot past her. She looked in the direction he was going, and saw that the current was dragging the mattress out to sea. With a sharp kick, she followed him. She could see the light bending where the jet of water that was the current began. She surfaced, took another deep breath, and dove again, still following Riku. As she entered the current she could feel it pushing her along. Riku was a good way ahead of her now, and the mattress was disappearing. She starting kicking again, and slowly but surely caught up, even zooming past him. Twisting around, she stuck her tongue out at him. He grinned, taking it as a challenge and starting swimming harder. In return, so did she. It didn't really occur to either of them just how far and fast they were going. Riku was slowly catching up. She was running out of air, so she surfaced and dove again. By the time she reached the jet of water again, the two of them were next to each other. Skye grabbed his shoulder and tried to push him backwards, propelling herself forward, but he caught her wrist and with a quick tug, he pulled himself back level with her. They were fast approaching the mattress now. Skye kicked and shot forward again, so that she was underneath the mattress. She kicked herself upwards and reached for it, missing by only inches. With the force of her breaking the surface, however, she had managed to knock it out of the fast-flowing current. Riku surfaced next to it and pulled himself on. Skye took her time swimming over. Finally climbing on top of it, she sighed. Both of them were breathing hard.

"That was tiring." She admitted. Riku grinned.

"Are you joking? I'm only just getting started." He told her. She pushed him. He was, in truth, tired enough that he didn't bother reacting and just fell into the water. She grinned as he grabbed the edge of the mattress and floated lazily.

"Liar." She answered. He shrugged, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. Then, with a sudden flurry of movement, he pushed the mattress up and over, with Skye falling into the water underneath it. She came to the surface, sputtering. She scrambled back onto the mattress, which Riku was already sitting on, grinning smugly. She shook her head, scattering water droplets everywhere. Then, pushing her hair out of her face, she grinned at him. The two of them sat, cross legged, across from each other for a long time. Skye was caught in his eyes; deep, ocean blue and intense like nothing she'd ever seen. He was just as tangled irreversibly in hers; emerald green and always dancing. _She has beautiful eyes,_ he decided before he realized what he was thinking. Then he blinked, surprised at himself. _Wait a minute! What am I thinking? I hadn't even met her this time yesterday!_ He scolded himself, looking away. His jaw dropped. She giggled, amused at the look of shock on his face.

"What?" She asked, holding back her laughter.

"Where are the islands?" He asked in return. She looked around. He was right. There was nothing in any direction. She frowned.

"Ummmm… The current! That really fast flowing current! If we find it again, we can follow it back, right?" She asked, slipping into the water. Riku nodded.

"Sure, but it's an issue of finding it." He said, diving off. She was clutching on to the mattress, making sure it didn't slip away again, and started swimming leisurely in the direction that she thought the current was in.

"Where do you think it might be?" She asked after a long moment.

"I don't know, but if we keep going in one direction for long enough, we're bound to find something." He answered. She nodded, swimming slowly forward and dropping underwater every once in a while to see if there was any sign of the current or an island.

………………………………………

Riku and Skye searched for a long time. It was well into the afternoon, when Skye finally spotted something. She was standing on top of the mattress, scanning the horizon.

"HeeeEEEYY!" She shouted suddenly, pointing. In her surprise and excitement, she took a step backwards, the pressure of her foot pushing the mattress under the water and sending her tumbling backwards. When she reached the surface again, Riku was floating with his arms crossed on the side of the mattress, laughing.

"What was that about?" He asked. She pulled herself back onto the mattress and scanned the horizon again.

"There, over there! There's an island!" She said, shading her eyes and squinting. Riku pulled himself onto the mattress and sat next to her, looking in the direction she was pointing.

"Hey, you're right! There _is_ something there!" He said, leaning forward. Both of them jumped off the mattress and dragged it behind them as they swam slowly but surely towards it. Getting closer, Skye noticed that what she'd seen was a tiny chain of islands, more or less just bumps on a wide sandbar that ran as far as the eye could see in both directions. They reached the sandbar long before they reached any of the tiny islands. Both of them could stand up on the sand, up to about Riku's hip and about Skye's waist. She let herself drop underwater and came back up again, floating on her back.

"So? Where are we?" She asked. She was drifting slowly towards one of the larger islands, and Riku was walking beside her, still dragging the mattress. He pushed it forward and watched it beach on the shore.

"This place is called the Oasis. There's a fresh water spring over there." He told her, pointing to an island a little ways away. "I haven't been here in a long time. And now that I think about it, I don't even think that Kairi's ever been here. It's too far away for most people to bother coming to." He said, shielding his eyes and looking around. She could feel her fingers dragging against the sand and decided that she must be close to one of the Islands. She stood up and waded over to the biggest island, where Riku had said that there was the spring. This was the only one that was completely shielded with trees. The rest were mostly bare and sandy. She stepped up onto the sand and smiled.

"It's too bad that no one comes here very often. It's really pretty." As she spoke, she looked at the wall of trees that surrounded the oasis. Riku walked up on to the shore next to her and motioned for her to follow. She did as she was told and he led her to a cleared path through the trees. Down the path was a small sandy opening with a deep pool just off to the side and a semicircle of warn down logs around it.

"People used to come around here a lot more than they do now. I can't figure out why they stopped." Riku said, sitting down on one of the logs. Skye sat down next to the pool, cupped water in her hands and drank. The sand ended just beneath the surface, becoming sheer rock that dropped down into the darkness below. It was impossible to see the bottom. She passed her fingers across the surface and then stood up, sitting down next to Riku.

"You think Sora and Kairi are wondering where we are yet?" She asked, looking up at the sky.

"Are you kidding? The two of them are so absorbed in each other they wouldn't notice if the island sunk underneath them." He answered, laughing. Skye grinned at him.

"I think it's cute."

"Right. Cute. I'm not one to get googly eyes." He said matter-of-factly.

"You know, I think Sora was right. You _do_ need to get yourself a girl." She replied, standing up. He rolled his eyes.

"Not you too." He sighed and stood up. The two of them walked out of the clearing and back out onto the strip of beach that ran around the edge of the little island. Riku sat down on the mattress. Skye flopped onto it next to him, propelling it out into the water. The rebound knocked him clear off the mattress and into the water. She was lying on her stomach, laughing. He surfaced, shaking the water out of his hair. She giggled, standing over him on the mattress.

"Nice fall." She said, smirking. His hand shot out and snatched her ankle, pulling. She fell forward, tumbling into the water next to him. He grinned triumphantly.

"Have a good trip?" He asked smugly. She smiled innocently at him.

"Yes, thanks." With that, she dunked him underwater. He reacted just fast enough, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her under with him. She yelped, though it was drowned out when she hit the water. He shot past her, propelling himself toward the air mattress. She caught his ankle and pulled sharply, pulling herself up next to him. Both of them climbed up, thought Skye had her bearings again first, so with a quick push, Riku was back in the water. He surfaced smirking, and then disappeared in the turquoise of the water. A moment later, with no warning, he came up underneath the mattress, flipping it over and flipping her off of it. She let out a quick cry of surprise and laughed, treading water. Riku stretched himself across the mattress and rested his chin on his fist. She pulled herself up and on, eyes always on him. He stared back at her, just as suspiciously. Both were smirking. He moved towards her to push her off, but she was ready; she grabbed his wrists and threw all of her weight back at him, knocking him onto his back with her on top of him. She grinning triumphantly and stuck her tongue out. She opened her mouth to say something, but whatever it was came out as a shriek and giggle as Riku caught hold of her wrists and flipped the pair of them over so that he was on top if her.

"Nice try." He said, grinning. She grinned back at him.

"I thought so." She answered. As she spoke, she used her feet to push his legs off of the side of the mattress, dragging the rest of him down with it. She sat up and crossed her legs, grinning widely at him. He surfaced and pouted at her.

"That wasn't very nice." He told her. She shrugged.

"Oh well. I win." She answered. He raised his eyebrows.

"Is that what you think?" He asked, reaching up and grabbing her by the waist to pull her into the water with him. She burst out laughing and squirmed away from him. He grinned evilly. "Ticklish?"

"No." She lied helplessly, edging away from him. His evil grin widened. She cringed. "Uh oh." She said slowly. He swam towards the mattress and she kicked water up at him. A full barrage of water continued for a long while. When she finally stopped to see where he was, he was prepared. He propelled himself forward, sending a wave of water back at her. Then, he dove underwater, swimming underneath the mattress and coming up on the other side. She didn't realize where he was until he pulled himself up onto the mattress behind her. She felt the pressure and spun, eyes going wide. He grinned at her.

"Boo." He said, catching her waist. She squealed and pulled back, laughing. She crossed her arms across her stomach and grinned, eyes flashing as she watched him.

"You'd better be careful. I'm plotting." She told him. He rolled his eyes.

"Yeh, okay." He answered disbelievingly. She lunged at him, barely managing to pin him. She grinned, thinking she was prepared for his counter. She wasn't. It took just about no effort at all for Riku to flip them.

"That never works!" Skye whined.

"Right. So what did you learn today?" He asked, smirking triumphantly. She looked thoughtful for a moment. Then she tried pushing his legs off the mattress again, though he seemed more prepared for her counter than she was for his. She pouted.

"You still don't win you know." She told him.

"Riiight." He said quietly, letting his face fall closer to hers. Their noses were touching, and if either of them moved… Riku leaned a little bit closer and Skye let her eyes flutter shut, but in leaning forward, he put enough pressure on his hands to send both of them tumbling off the mattress. The shock of the water and return of logic made Skye blush. She'd only gotten to the Islands yesterday. What was she thinking? Riku's thoughts were similar. In an effort to keep from looking at each other, they both looked towards the horizon. Skye grinned, relieved that she had something to say to end to awkward silence.

"Looks like we drifted back to the Island." She noted. Riku looked up and the first thing he saw was the paopu tree. He nodded, looking mildly surprised.

"Lucky." He said, sounding like he wasn't paying any attention. She crossed her arms.

"You certainly sound pleased." She told him sarcastically. He blinked at her.

"Huh? Oh, right. Sorry." He answered, grinning sheepishly. The two of them waded up to the shore and tossed the mattress onto the beach. Kairi came running down the beach towards them, hand in hand with Sora.

"Hey! Where have you been?" She asked, almost scolding them. Riku crossed his arms.

"Sorry mother." He said sarcastically. She glared at him. Skye and Sora tried to keep from laughing. Kairi rolled her eyes.

"Grandma Rose is looking for you." She said shortly. She looked at Skye. "Come on, we can go back to my house and get changed for dinner."

……………………………………………

Bad ending, but oh well. Next chappie, next day. It makes sense like that, right? I'll update soon hopefully. R+R!


	4. Chapter 4: Different But Connected

**Chapter 4: Different But Connected**

The sky was pale violet shade, a result of the sun's last reflections on the clouds that had rolled in during the early afternoon. Three days had passed since Skye's first full day on the Islands. The four teens were sitting in a circle on the beach, talking.

"Are you okay Kairi?" Skye asked, hiding a smile at the strange look on the other girl's face.

"It's _cold_." Kairi answered, pouting. Skye rolled her eyes.

"It's not that bad." She argued. Riku shrugged.

"It is cold for the season, but it's kind of nice. The summers are always so hot here." Meanwhile, Sora had wrapped his arms around Kairi, who leaned gratefully into the warmth.

"Thanks Sora." She murmured, smiling. He smiled back at her.

"Anything for you." He answered. Riku made a gagging noise.

"I don't mind sweet," he stated, "but this is sickening." Skye nudged him.

"Oh come on, it's cute!" She said, going starry eyed over how adorable Kairi and Sora were. He let out an exaggerated sigh.

"Oh no, they've brainwashed you too!" He said, feigning horror. There was a pause, and Sora raised an eyebrow, smirking.

"Oh, I get it. Riku's jealous!" He said, almost accusing. Skye and Kairi started laughing.

"No way." Riku answered, though the blush creeping onto his cheeks said otherwise. There was a long pause as they all watched him, each grinning. He decided to change the subject. "Hey, why don't we start a bonfire? It'll warm us up." He suggested. Kairi nodded vigorously.

"Good idea! Very good idea!" She agreed. Skye stood up.

"Why don't me and Riku go get the wood, so you two can be _alone_ for a while." She teased. Kairi grinned and stuck her tongue out at Skye's and Riku's retreating backs. Snuggling closer to Sora, she giggled.

"I think you hit the nail on the head." She whispered. He blinked at her.

"Huh? Oh, you mean Riku being jealous? I was just kidding." He answered. She nodded.

"I know, but did you see his face? I think it's true."

………………………………………………………………….

Both Skye and Riku were standing underneath the palm trees, staring up at the leaves above them.

"Where do we get wood to build a fire?" Skye asked after a long pause.

"I dunno." Riku answered, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"Well you're a great help." She told him, shaking her head and smirking. He shrugged.

"You're no better."

"Right, but I don't _live_ here. How should I know where to get wood?" She asked, her smirk widening into a grin. He sighed, blowing strands of his silver hair, which were hanging in his eyes, out of the way. It wasn't working very well. Skye watched, looking amused as he leaned against a tree trunk, eyes crossed, blowing strands of hair out of his face only to have them fall right back where they were. He shook his head, gave up, and ran his fingers through his hair.

"There might be some drift wood around, underneath the bridge." He suggested suddenly, motioning for her to follow. The two climbed halfway across the dilapidated bridge. Riku grabbed onto the edge, swung down, and landed smoothly on a rock below. Skye was going to take a few steps further across and then swing down herself, but on her first step, the board collapsed and she let out a yelp, tumbling not-so-gracefully towards the water below. Riku cringed, waiting for the splash, but it never came. Skye had grabbed nimbly onto one of the supports and was standing on one of the cross beams, grinning triumphantly.

"Tada!" She shouted, hopping down onto the flat rock he was standing on. He nodded.

"Very impressive. I'm surprised you were able to catch yourself like that. A move like that does take skill, after all." He said. She laughed.

"Be glad it wasn't you." She retorted. He raised an eyebrow.

"And what, exactly, is that supposed to mean?" He asked.

"It means that you'd never be able to do that in a million years." She answered, smirking.

"You'd never be able to do it again in a billion." He replied, grinning back at her.

"I have ten times the grace that you do." She told him matter-of-factly.

"But what's grace when you have no balance?" He asked. She just grinned in reply and pushed him. He hadn't been expecting it, and after a moment of swinging his arms to try and keep upright, he fell forward, barely catching himself on one of the beams.

"Who's got no balance?" She asked smugly. His arms tensed; she noticed it.

"Not you." He answered, pushing hard on the beam as he spoke. He threw his weight backwards, and would have collided with Skye had she not been prepared and stepped nimbly out of the way, swinging herself up into the crossbeam that she had caught herself on before. She grinned smugly down at Riku's figure sprawled across the rock below her.

"I'm sorry? Who was it you said had no balance?" She asked, barely holding back laughter. He just rolled his eyes, grinning, and got up. She looked over her shoulder, noticing a pair of good sized logs pushed up against the rocky wall by the tide. "Aren't we supposed to be looking for wood?" She asked, suppressing a grin. He shrugged and nodded, picking up the big piece of driftwood wedged between the rock he was standing on and one of the bridge's supports. Meanwhile, Skye swung herself through and across the underside of the bridge and then, hooking her knees around a crossbeam, swung down, upside down, and collected the two logs she'd noticed earlier. Her hair was long enough that the ends of her black curls brushed the surface of the water. Riku looked up at her and grinned.

"What are you, half monkey?" He asked, semi-surprised. She looked up at him, throwing her hair back out of her face and spraying water droplets everywhere, and grinned back.

"What, you mean you can't do this?" She asked, swinging herself back upright and crossing the underside of the bridge again, though this time more carefully. She did, after all, only have one hand to use since the other arm was full carrying the logs. She pulled herself up onto the topside of the bridge, taking Riku's driftwood, and then offered him a hand up. Once they were both back on top of the bridge, he grinned.

"Careful. The boards are loose." He said. She nodded.

"Thanks for the warning." She answered sarcastically, shaking her head with a slight smile. They headed back to the palm trees where Riku said they'd find kindling. Skye, who was also carrying the logs, had her arms full of wood a good while before Riku. She was standing against one of the trees, looking out at the sky as one by one, the stars began to appear. The light breeze danced around her, playing with strands of her hair. Every once in a while the light would fall just so, and the stars reflected in her emerald eyes. A small smile graced her features for just a moment, and, not looking away from the horizon, she spoke.

"Are you waiting for me to leave or are you just staring because you feel like it?" She asked, clearly amused. Riku mentally slapped himself and grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry. I've got about all the kindling I can carry though, so should we go?" He asked, wanting to change the subject. _That's twice,_ he noted to himself. She walked toward him, nodding.

"I think we've left Sora and Kairi alone for much too long." She replied, her mischievous grin returning. The two started walking away from the cove and back towards the beach house. Riku laughed.

"That's true. I can't be held responsible for what you might see them doing when we get back though." He told her. She blinked at him.

"Why would I blame you?" She asked, totally confused. He shrugged.

"I don't know. Just in case." He answered. She shook her head, sighing.

"You're weird."

"And you're not?"

"I never said that."

"You implied it."

"I did no such thing!" She told him, pretending to be offended. She took a step towards him to push him, but instead, caught her foot on his and sidestepped to catch her balance, only to find that there was no ground on the other side of her: only a short drop and then water. She yelped. With his free arm, Riku reached out and caught her, hauling her back upright again and pulling her against him until she regained her balance. She grinned sheepishly. He smirked.

"I thought you said you had balance." He said nonchalantly. She shook her head.

"Nope. I said you didn't have balance either." She answered in a very matter-of-fact manner. Another smile played across her lips. "_You_ were the one that said I had no balance. You have a bad memory." She told him.

"You can't remember what you did yesterday." He answered.

"Can so." She told him, nose in the air. He smirked.

"Fine. What did you do yesterdaa--!" As he was talking, he stepped on a rotting board and, with a loud crack, dropped unceremoniously into the water below, scattering kindling everywhere. She stumbled and barely kept herself upright; neither of them had realized it until then, but they'd been walking arm in arm since Skye had nearly fallen into the water. She carefully picked up the kindling spilled on the bridge while Riku did the same with the wood in the water. Then, she leaned down, grinning, and offered him a hand up.

"Careful. Some of the boards are loose." She echoed his earlier warning that had come too late. He grinned back at her and, taking her hand, climbed back up to the upper side of the bridge. Their fingers stayed laced together, and the memory of what had almost happened on the air mattress in the water flooded her mind so forcefully that she almost lost her balance. It wasn't just that though. Another memory was running through her head behind it, just beyond her reach, allowing her only glimpses of the parallels between the two memories. Someone close to her. Someone with blue eyes. Water and Laughter. Sunlight and the creaking sound of waterlogged wood. Riku was giving her a weird look.

"You alright?" He asked, sounding uncertainly worried. She ran her fingers through her hair, thinking carefully.

"That creaking…a dock? I used to live near a dock?" She asked herself, squeezing her eyes shut and trying to draw the memory back. She could recall the sound with perfect clarity, but she was only able to picture the docks on the Islands. "It's gone." She decided, looking up at Riku. He was watching her with real worry now.

"What's gone?" He asked. When she didn't answer, he reached carefully towards her and tilted her face up to his. "Skye?" He spoke louder, as if it was simply a matter of her not having heard him before. She blinked a few times and seemed to return to herself. She gave her had a rapid shake and smiled at him.

"Sorry. Spaced out there for a minute." She explained, looking earnest. He gave her a look that told her plainly he didn't believe her for a minute. She sighed. "What else sounds like a dock?" She asked. He looked surprised.

"What?"

"The sound that a dock makes. The creaking." She urged. "What else sounds like it? Something about it jogged my memory of home, but I couldn't quite remember all of it. Only the sounds and someone with blue eyes." She explained. Riku crossed his arms.

"Are you sure it wasn't actually a dock that was in your memory?" He asked. She nodded with a surprising certainty. There was a long pause. "I can't think of anything. Maybe we can ask Kairi and Sora." He offered. She shook her head.

"Don't worry about it. It'll come back sooner or later. No use fretting about it now." She said. He snickered.

"Fretting? Makes you sound like Grandma." He told her. She stuck her tongue out at him.

"I happen to think Grandma Rose is a very nice lady."

"So do I, but that doesn't make her any less old and kinda frumpy." He answered. She blinked at him.

"Frumpy? What's a frumpy?" She asked, confused. He shrugged, laughing more at himself than anything.

"I don't even know. Selphie was ranting about something and she said it. I thought it was funny, so now I use it." He admitted.

"And you don't know what it means?"

"Nope."

"And you use it because you heard Selphie said it?"

"Yep."

"Brilliant." She said sarcastically, grinning. She'd met Selphie on her second day, along with Lulu and Irvine and a more formal introduction to Wakka. The pair was finally approaching Sora and Kairi. The couple had dug a small round hole in the sand and encircled it with stones.

"Took you long enough." Sora greeted them with a grin as they dumped their piles of wood next to the fire pit. Skye grinned at him.

"I'm sure you two appreciated the alone time." She answered. Neither Sora nor Kairi said anything, but both blushed slightly. Meanwhile, Riku built a cone of fire logs and stuffed some kindling into the center, and was currently sitting in the sand, staring at it.

"The wood's wet. This might take a little while to get burning." He noted. He dug into his pocket and pulled out a lighter. Sora shook his head and got his Keyblade. Standing back a few feet from the wood, he cast a fire spell. The wood burst into momentary flame before fizzling out and leaving a pile of wood no different from the way it had began, except for that it was now steaming. Sora pouted.

"That didn't work out too well." He said, sitting down again. Riku made a couple of attempts to get the fire started, and though his lasted longer than Sora's, none were very successful or very large. The four of them sat around an unlit fire pit for a long while before Skye picked up the lighter.

"I'll try." She offered. No one objected, but no one believed it was going to work any better this time around than it had before. She crawled forward and sat down next to the fire pit, observing it with care. Then, sticking out her tongue in concentration, she lit the lighter and held the flame against the kindling. It caught for a moment, hissing. The other three watched her, mildly interested in what she was planning to do. Absently, she handed the lighter back to Riku and cupped her hands around the now wavering flame. It looked like it was about to go out. She leaned forward and blew. By all logic, it should have gone out. While it's true that blowing on a fire helps it grow, this was no bigger than a candle flame. Still, flames burst forward, eating through all of the dampness in moments. A minute or so later, after a little bit more urging from Skye, they had a crackling bonfire. Riku, Sora and Kairi were staring at her while she grinned back at them, clearly pleased with herself.

"That was impressive." Kairi said, giggling as she moved closer to the fire. Riku shrugged.

"I could've done that if I'd really tried." He said. They all stared at him. Sora suddenly burst out laughing. A moment later the two girls were laughing at him too. Riku grinned sheepishly, shrugged again, and lay down on the sand. Skye flopped down on her back next to him. His grin turned mischievous. "Like I said. Beginner's luck." He insisted. She rolled onto her side to look at him.

"You're jealous." She told him. He shook his head.

"Try again."

"Then you're just saying this to bother me."

"Right."

"You're terrible."

"Okay, but at least I'm not the one who asked what a frumpy was."

"But you don't know _either_."

"That doesn't mean I had to ask."

"You're terrible _and_ full of yourself." Skye said, rolling back over onto her back.

"How does that make me full of myself?" Riku asked, semi-surprised and slightly amused.

"And do you really think it wise to ask me how my mind works?" She asked in return. There was a long pause before he conceded.

"No, not really." He admitted. She sighed, holding in a laugh.

"You know, I've only been here for four days, but already I feel like I've known you all my life." Skye said quietly, staring up at the sky. Riku looked over at her.

"Now that you mention it, me too." He answered, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "The past four days have felt like life's gone back to normal." He admitted quietly. Skye sat up and cocked her head to one side, looking confused.

"Normal? What's that mean?" She asked, sounding concerned. A loud yawn from Kairi drew their attention.

"I'm tired." She announced. Skye smiled.

"No kidding." Sora stood up, helping Kairi up with him.

"We're heading home then. Coming?" He asked, looking at the other two. Riku shook his head.

"I'm going to stick around," he paused and looked at Skye. "If you do." He added after a moment. She nodded.

"Sure, I'll stick around for a while." She answered, motioning for Sora and Kairi to go ahead.

"See you in the morning!"

"Good night!"

………………………………………

There was a long silence as Riku and Skye lay on the sand next to each other, watching the stars pass slowly overhead. Skye's eyes fell on Riku.

"What was it you were saying before?" She asked. He blinked.

"Huh?" He sounded disoriented.

"Before, about life going back to normal. What did you mean?"

"Oh." He sighed and another long silence stretched. She was beginning to think that he wasn't going to answer when he finally spoke up. "If you've lived in a place for all your life, things are simple. It may not seem it to you at the time, but it's true."

"That's why you wanted to explore other worlds. Things were boring." Skye said, nodding. She knew about what happened before the Heartless attacked, she also knew about what had happened to Sora and Kairi. Riku was not so keen on revealing as much. He seemed almost ashamed of it. He sat up and crossed his legs, speaking again.

"Things weren't really boring. I just thought that other worlds would be something to see. I'd always thought that one day I'd go explore another world, Kairi's home world, and then come back again and continue with my life. It'd be like a vacation." He paused. They both knew it wasn't. He looked suddenly down at her, with an expression near confusion. Whatever it was, it was really bothering him. "I can't just come back here and pick up where I left off. This isn't my life anymore. It belongs to a 15 year old kid with a good heart. Not me." As he spoke, he got a look on his face like he was admitting guilt. She sat up next to him.

"What do you mean, not you? You have a good heart." She told him confidently. He shook his head.

"I was possessed by Ansem." His voice had finality to it that she couldn't understand.

"So…?" Her tone came as a surprise to Riku. He'd been expecting her to at least react to it. To at least change her opinion of him because of it. Instead, she didn't seem to care.

"So I was possessed by the Master of Darkness." He said, his surprise conveyed in his voice. She shrugged.

"But you're not anymore, and that's what counts. Besides, if you didn't have a good heart, he probably wouldn't have let go of you."

"He didn't exactly 'let go'. Sora and I kind of forced him out. Mostly Sora though." He admitted. She crossed her arms triumphantly.

"Exactly. You fought it and so that means you have a good heart." She decided. "And anyways, if you're not happy with the life you're leading, change it." She added, bringing them back to the original conversation. He stared at her.

"I can't just change it."

"Why not?"

"Because! There's nothing to change it to. Everything on the Islands is simple. Except me."

"Then leave. If you want to lead your life somewhere more…complex, then go there."

"I can't just leave."

"Why not?" She asked again. Again Riku stared at her like she was crazy.

"Because I can't just up and leave. People would worry, especially Grandma. And I can't just leave my friends behind."

"Then you're choosing to stay." She maintained. He was getting a little frustrated.

"I _can't_ leave." He repeated.

"There' nothing stopping you. But, you don't want Grandma to worry and you don't want to leave your friends, so you make the choice to stay." She insisted. There was a long pause, and then she spoke again. "If you want to go, do it. Just like there's nothing stopping you from leaving, there's nothing stopping you from coming back again."

"They'd never forgive me if I just left with no explanation."

"You did last time and they certainly weren't mad. Kairi said her dad was even planning on throwing a party for the second year anniversary of yours and Sora's return. And Tidus. You said he left with very little explanation, but no one's disowned him. They'll all just be happy to see him whenever he comes back to visit. Besides, if you gave them an explanation, then it's not even an issue."

"Still, they'd worry."

"I don't think they'd worry too much about you. They know you can take care of yourself, considering everything that you've been through. If you survived then, you'll be okay now too." Riku smiled slightly at her.

"Sounds like you _want_ me to leave." He said in a fake accusatory voice. Skye shrugged.

"You told me you wanted to leave." She answered. He sighed. She knew what he was thinking. Sora had traveled with two others, Donald and Goofy. Riku traveled the worlds alone. It was obvious, to her anyways, that he'd been jealous, even if no one ever actually said so. She sat up and smiled at him. "I'd go with you, you know. There's nothing tying me here but you, Sora and Kairi. And I think they'd come too, if you asked them."

Riku nodded. "Maybe I will then." He paused, grinning. "After the party. Kairi's planning it. She'd be very upset if none of us showed up." They stood up, a silent agreement that it was time to follow Sora and Kairi.

"Sleep is good." Skye commented, standing on Grandma Rose's front porch with Riku, who made a face at her.

"I guess. See you tomorrow." He stepped down onto the first step and then stopped. "Selphie said she wanted you and Kairi to meet her at the Square tomorrow at lunch. She says she has a surprise for you." He grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, I forgot until now. Tell Kairi tomorrow morning, because I'll forget again."

"No problem." She answered with a nod and opened the door. He took another step down and stopped again.

"Skye?" His voice gave away a hint of apprehension. She stopped and looked at him curiously. "Thanks."


	5. Chapter 5: Dinner

**Chapter 5: Dinner**

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While I'm sure that most people reading this can deal, I think I should put this in here anyways: there's a bit of a reference to alcohol in this chapter. It consists of two margaritas and that's it. Not drunkenness or anything really offensive. Promise. And it's all legal and whatever, so don't go after me for promoting breaking the law. The vast majority of tropical islands have a drinking age of like 15 and lower, so there. On with the story!

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Noon rolled around fast and soon Kairi and Skye were sitting on one of the benches around the perimeter of Lilac Square, named such for the sweet smelling flowers that grew all around the outside. Kairi was sitting cross-legged on the bench, and Skye was stretched out on the bench next to hers. There was a long silence, broken only by the sound of gulls.

"Where's Selphie?" Skye asked after a while. Kairi shrugged.

"I dunno. She'll come soon I hope." She answered with a sigh. Skye nodded.

"M'kay." She muttered, yawning. Her eyes fluttered closed and a moment later, she was fast asleep.

"Stop poking me." Skye murmured trying to roll over. She let out a yelp as her stomach dropped and she landed with a crunch into a lilac bush, the pale violet petals drifting down onto her like snow. She sat up quickly and looked around, eyes wide in surprise. Riku was standing on the other side of the bench, grinning from ear to ear.

"Good job." He said, giving her a thumbs-up. She made a face at him, sticking out her tongue, and stood up. She then proceeded to attempt to climb back over the bench, tripping over it and falling into him. The lilac petals that had fallen into her hair when she fell scattered everywhere. He caught her quickly, pulling her into his arms until she regained her balance. Or at least, he intended to let her go when she caught her balance. But he didn't, and she certainly didn't seem to mind.

"Don't laugh, I just woke up. I'm not a morning person." She said defensively, resting her head against his shoulder. She smelled faintly of cinnamon. He smiled in spite of himself.

"But it's not morning." He answered into her hair. This was true. The sky was shaded pink and purple with bruised-looking clouds floating lazily overhead, glowing with gold closer to the horizon, where the sun was setting. She looked up at him.

"You know what I mean." She answered, sounding grumpy. He nodded in arrogant understanding.

"Oh is somebody in a bad mood?" He asked, teasing her. She nodded.

"I just spent who knows how long sleeping on a bench. My neck's stiff now. And that I fell into a lilac bush doesn't help." She replied, pouting. He lifted one of his arms from around her waist and pressed his hand against the back of her neck. All of her muscles were tense, painfully so. He pressed his thumb gently at first, and then harder, against the muscles at the base of her neck. She tensed, gasping at first in pain, and then relaxed against him.

"Okay?" He asked quietly, forming small circles against the knot in her shoulder, loosening gently. Her breathing slowed and she nodded, her head resting against his shoulder again. They stood like that for a long time until, smiling slightly, Skye rolled her shoulders and straightened up, looking up at him. Riku was looking down at her with a look in his eyes similar to the one he wore on the air mattress. She didn't know it, but her own expression matched his.

"Thanks." She whispered, looking out at the sunset, the last rays of light making her features glow. Then she cast him a quick smile. "I should go find out why Kairi felt the need to leave me here asleep all afternoon." She said reluctantly. He grinned.

"Sora only just came and found her about the same time I found you. She was just as fast asleep as you were." He answered. She looked mildly surprised.

"And I suppose you know why Selphie never showed up?" She asked quizzically. He nodded sheepishly.

"The surprise is tomorrow. My mistake." He answered, looking rather embarrassed. She grinned.

"It's okay. Shall we go see what Kairi and Sora are up to?" She asked. He nodded, and both of them became instantly aware that they were still wrapped in each others arms. There was a slight pause, and Skye, who refused to acknowledge how fast her heart was beating, stepped slightly away from him, keeping herself carefully within the circle of his arm still resting around her waist. They walked across the square like that, and just as they were emerging onto the street, Selphie, who'd been on her way to find them, let out a squeal and ran over.

"I knew it! Come on, we have to go find Kairi! It can't wait until tomorrow!" She said much too fast, grabbing Skye's hand and pulling her away. Riku caught her other hand and pulled them both to a stop.

"We were just on our way to go looking for them anyways." He said. Selphie looked at him suspiciously and dropped Skye's hand. Skye saw the look on her face and nodded.

"We were going to see what her and Sora were up to." She added. Selphie nodded.

"So, did Riku tell you about the surprise?" She asked, excited. Skye grinned.

"Yep. He did. Not too clear on his facts though." She answered. Riku reddened.

"It was on honest mistake." He answered. She shrugged.

"Oh I agree. But that doesn't change the fact that I spent the afternoon sleeping on a bench because of you." She stated with a pout. Selphie, though confused, had a smug grin on her face.

"I saw Kairi and Sora by the docks a few minutes ago. She's in on the surprise too. I wanted her to be anyways, but I never got the chance to tell her. It's a surprise for you, Skye." She said. Skye looked surprised.

"For me? Now I'm really curious."

"You'll find out at noon tomorrow." Selphie answered. Skye shot Riku a look.

"That's right. _Tomorrow_." She said, laughing. Selphie shook her head.

"I don't get it, what happened?" She asked. Skye opened her mouth to answer, but Riku spoke first.

"Nothing." He stated overly-quickly. Selphie gave him a look that said she knew he was lying, but he was saved by Irvine's timely appearance.

"Selphie! Oh, hey, Riku, Skye." He nodded to each of them. Skye smiled and waved. Riku nodded back. Irvine was a year older than each Skye and Riku. He had long brown hair that he wore tied back, and a ten gallon hat. He also wore a silver ring in one of his ears and leather gloves with the fingers cut out of them. He was very much a ladies man and liked to think of himself as tough even though he was even more of a hopeless romantic than Selphie (and that's really saying something). He smiled indulgently at Skye and Riku, and both of them realized very quickly that Riku still had a hold of her hand. He dropped it very quickly. Skye fought the urge to blush.

"Well, we're off to go find Kairi and Sora." She said quickly, and hurried off before they could reply, Riku following just as quickly. As soon as they were out of ear shot of the pair, Skye let out a giggle. Riku looked curiously at her.

"What's so funny?" He asked. She flashed a grin at him.

"That was…interesting." She answered simply. He still looked confused.

"Why?" He asked slowly. She grinned bashfully.

"If Selphie's as big a gossip as I think she is, by tomorrow it'll be a well known fact that we're a bona fide couple." She answered. Riku blinked.

"But, uh, last time I checked…we aren't." He said awkwardly.

"I know that, and you know that, but I'm pretty sure Selphie will have told the rest of the world otherwise within the hour." As they passed Grandma Rose's house, the door swung open and the woman appeared on the porch, covered to her elbows in flour as per usual.

"Hello Riku! Skye! You two happen to be just who I was looking for!" She called, motioning for them to come over. As they walked up the steps, Skye smiled at her.

"Why were you looking for us?" She asked. Rose smiled back.

"Because I was looking for four extra hands to help me finish getting dinner ready, and you had already told me you wanted to learn to cook. Besides, you two were the first two to pass by my house." She answered with a chuckle. Riku let out a resigned sigh.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" He asked. Skye nudged him.

"You don't sound very happy. It'll be fun!" She stated, walking inside. He shrugged.

"I guess." He answered, following her. She sighed exaggeratedly.

"Come on, you could at least try." She answered with a quirky smile. He shrugged.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry…hey it smells really good in here." He observed, walking into the kitchen. Skye stuck her tongue out at him and washed her hands. She turned around, looking for a towel. Smirking, Riku picked it up off the table and held it out to her. She grinned, flicking water at him and taking the towel.

"Thank you." She said, placing the towel on the counter and walking over to the stove, looking through the glass at the pan inside. It looked like lasagna with a ton of cheese and an oil sauce instead of tomato sauce. It looked and smelled wonderful. Her stomach grumbled loudly. Riku looked at her, surprised.

"I heard that." He told her. She grinned.

"I guess I didn't realize I was that hungry." She answered, straightening up. Rose walked in a moment later.

"I need you two to make a salad. I'm having a few friends for dinner in about half an hour, so it'll need to be big enough for four people." She paused, and then added, "and since I'll have guests… I'm sure you don't mind going out for dinner tonight? I can give you a little money. I'm sure you'd find four old ladies very dull." As she spoke, she started to place the filling into a pie crust. Riku was accustomed to eating both at his grandmother's and at his house. His family spent more time eating here than they did at home. He nodded, while Skye rummaged through the fridge for vegetables.

"We'll go out, but only if you promise to save some pie." He said, eyeing the apple filling. Rose chuckled.

"Not a problem Riku. Now, would you get out some oil and vinegar for the dressing?"

……………………………………………………

Once the sun went down, the temperature dropped surprisingly fast. Riku and Skye were standing on the front porch. Skye shivered, frowning. All she had on was shorts and a tank top.

"I'm going to put something warmer on, I'll be right back." She said, heading back in the house. Riku nodded and waited for a surprisingly short while.

"And here I though women were infamous for taking much too long getting ready." He noted as she walked back outside. She looked slightly surprised.

"Thanks…I think." She said, her tone unsure. She'd changed into a pair of low cut jeans and a black top with long sleeves that hugged her subtly in all the right places. Subtle or not, he still noticed. He cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Are we going to find Sora and Kairi?" He asked. She nodded.

"If you know where they are." She answered, stepping down onto the first stair. Riku looked up and down the street, frowning.

"I don't have a clue where they are." He admitted. Skye smiled.

"Then they miss out. I'm too hungry to go searching. What about you?" She asked, jumping the rest of the steps and landing like a cat on the walk.

"Starved." He agreed, stuffing the money Grandma Rose had given him into his pocket and following her. She folded her hands behind her back and looked at him, tilting her head to one side.

"Where are we going?" She asked after a moment. He shrugged.

"Wherever there's food." He answered. They were walking towards the shopping district. The buildings were taller, with hundreds of little shops lining the streets. Most of them were closed, but a number of restaurant windows were still lit, the only establishments open at the time of night. Skye grinned amusedly and her eyes settled on one of the restaurants. She could smell chili spices and fresh baked bread.

"It smells sooo good." She said hungrily. "Mexican!" She exclaimed when she read the sign. Riku looked inside the window.

"Wanna eat here? It's not too busy." He said, walking towards the door and holding it open. She nodded vigorously and they walked inside. As they stepped inside, the smell of food became stronger and Skye stomach growled again. She grinned sheepishly.

"I'm really hungry." She stated as if explaining herself. Riku nodded, grinning back at her.

"I gathered that. Me too." Just then, a young woman walked over.

"For two? Okay, right this way please." She said brightly, leading them through the restaurant to a booth table near the back, putting two menus down on the table. "Your server will be with you shortly." With that, she turned around and walked towards the family who had just come in. Skye picked up her menu and started to look through it. She held it open in front of her and it was big enough that it completely blocked her from Riku's view.

"Mmmm mrgtas" Her voice was muffled and not exactly understandable. Riku reached up and grabbed the top of the menu, pulling it down flat on the table so he could see her.

"What's a mrgtas?" He asked, smirking. She stuck her tongue out at him.

"I said 'Mmmm margaritas!'" She answered. He stared blankly at her. She gaped back.

"Oh come on, you've never had a margarita? What kind of a tropical island is this?" She asked, grinning. He shrugged. She nodded. "Okay, you're going to get one tonight." She looked back down at her menu. "Let's see, what is there to eat here…" She looked up at him again. She smiled sweetly at him. "Don't stare at me, look at your menu. I though you said you were hungry." He didn't answer, just picked up his menu and pulled it up in front of his face to hide blushing. She grinned, peeking over the top of his menu. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"What?" He asked, still trying to hide behind the menu. She grinned.

"Riku? Are you blushing?"

"No."

"You're a bad liar."

"Then it's a good thing I'm usually an honest person." He answered, putting his menu back down. A balding man with an unusually wide smile walked up to their table.

"Hi! The name's Trevor, I'll be your server tonight. Can I get you some drinks to start?" He asked. Skye nodded.

"Two margaritas."

"What kind?" He asked. Skye scanned the list.

"Hey, I want to try this coconut one." She answered, and then looked at Riku. He shrugged.

"I guess I'll have a coconut one too." He said cluelessly. Trevor nodded.

"Okay, I'll be back with those in a minute." And then, his disappeared into the kitchen, shouting out some indistinguishable orders to the chef. Skye was looking terribly amused. Riku watched her suspiciously.

"What's so funny?" He asked after a moment. She grinned.

"I'm not laughing." She answered truthfully. He opened his mouth to speak, but stopped, realizing that she really hadn't been. He had a look of such disorientation on his face then, that Skye burst out laughing. He grinned.

"You are now." He stated smugly. She paused, pondering the situation for a moment.

"So, what are you going to have to eat?" She asked. Riku started laughing now.

"Don't change the subject." He ordered. She pouted at him. He grinned triumphantly. "I win." He announced. She looked mildly surprised.

"You win? Oh you wish." She smiled innocently.

"Is that a dare?" He asked in reply. She nodded.

"You bet." Just then, Trevor came back with two drinks.

"Here we go, compliments of the chef!" He said brightly, putting the margaritas down on the table. Skye looked surprised.

"That was fast!" Trevor smiled.

"Thank you. So, have you decided what you'd like to eat?" He asked. Skye and Riku looked at each other, down at the menus and then back at each other again. Skye grinned.

"Chicken fajitas please!" She said, practically bouncing in her seat. Smirking, Riku shook his head.

"Tacos for me thanks." He said, handing the waiter both the menus. Trevor nodded with a quick smile and was off again. Once he was gone, Riku started laughing. Now it was Skye's turn to be suspicious.

"What?" She asked slowly.

"You're pretty excited about eating Mexican food, aren't you?" He asked with a grin. She blushed.

"Maybe, so what?" She asked defensively. He started laughing again.

"You were practically jumping out of your seat when you ordered. I was just wondering what you expect when the food actually comes." He answered. She pouted at him, and then seemed to notice for the first time the drinks sitting on the table. She grinned and picked hers up, sipping on it carefully at first. Then she nodded.

"It's good!" She proclaimed. Riku stared at her.

"Hyper any?"

"Yes, thank you very much. Now try." Skye ordered, pushing his glass towards him. He looked at the liquid in it for a moment as if he didn't trust it.

"What…is it?" He asked. She rolled her eyes.

"More or less just tequila and coconut milk. Maybe a little citrus fruit juice." She answered, taking another sip. Riku went red, his expression echoing hers a moment ago.

"Tequila huh?" He said slowly, procrastinating trying it. She shot him a weird look.

"Yeh, te-keel-ah" She said, over enunciating it, grinning. He inspected his drink further. She crossed her arms. "You're acting like you've never had anything like this before." She said. He raised his eyebrows at her.

"And if I haven't?" He asked. She blinked in surprise.

"You haven't? You've never drank at all?" She asked. He shook his head. She rested her elbow on the table and her chin on her fist. "Never would have guessed." She said, sounding almost awed. He shrugged.

"I guess there's a first time for everything." He answered, picking up his glass. She grinned, picking up hers and there was the clink of glass on glass. Both of them took a drink. Riku looked pleased.

"It's good." He said, sounding surprised.

"See? I hate to say I told you so." She answered with a smile.

"No, you don't." He said instantly. She paused, her smile spreading into a grin.

"…you're right. I love it."


	6. Chapter 6: NotSoInnocent Fun

**Chapter 6: Some Not-So-Innocent Fun**

The wind picked up, tossing Skye's hair about her face. The light of the full moon illuminated just enough to be able to see around her. She was sitting on the docks of the Island that the shopping district was on. The legs of her jeans were rolled up to just below her knees, her feet dangling into the water. There was a thin beach stretching down the shoreline for as far as the eye could see, trees growing up to only feet from the shoreline in some places. There were two huge old trees on either side of the dock and breeze on the water scattered the reflection of the canopies hanging overhead. She and Riku were sitting back to back, he with his legs crossed. Skye leaned suddenly forward, gasping. Riku almost fell over backwards, but caught himself and twisted around.

"What?" He asked, sounding slightly disoriented and concerned. She giggled.

"There was a shooting star." She admitted sheepishly. Riku laughed and spun around so that he was sitting next to her.

"Did you make a wish?" He asked after a moment. She shook her head, shrugging.

"I forgot." She admitted, looking back up at the sky. He nudged her.

"There's another one." He said pointing. Skye looked to where he was pointing, just missing it. She frowned, and then another one shot past, which she caught out of the corner of her eye.

"That's three!" She said, surprised. "I don't think I've seen as many shooting stars the entire time I've been here as I have in the past two minutes." She said, sounding thoroughly amazed and leaning over so that she could see the sky better through the leaves. She proceeded to practically fall on top of Riku and straightened up, looking down at the reflection of the sky in the water, the stars dancing around on its surface. She smiled a little. Another point of light streaked across the sky. _I wonder what to wish for?_ Though neither knew it, both were thinking the same thing. Skye let out an inaudible sigh. She'd never known it was even possible to become this close to someone this fast, much less that it would ever happen to her. She was completely comfortable with him, she could tell him anything. Almost. Then she was pulled from her thoughts because the water was sparkling with light, so much so that she couldn't pick out the reflection of the moon. She stared, gasping in surprise. At the same moment, Riku's jaw dropped and he scrambled to his feet, eyes glued to the sky. Skye was on her feet a moment later, grabbing him by the hand. The two of them ran out onto the beach to get a better look. The entire sky was alight, thousands of stars falling everywhere.

"Wow…" Riku breathed, breaking the long silence and becoming suddenly and acutely aware that they were still holding hands. Skye smiled.

"There's enough stars that there would be one for every wish of every person in the world." She said, amazed. Riku smiled slightly in return.

"Or enough that if someone made the same wish on all of those stars, there'd be no way he could go wrong." He answered, reddening when he realized what he was saying. By then the meteor shower had slowed, and though there were still two or three stars shooting across the night sky, it was mostly over. She shot him a quirky smile.

"What would someone wish that much for?" She asked, curious. He seemed suddenly very interested in his feet.

"Were you serious when you said you'd go to other worlds with me?" He asked quietly. Her smile widened.

"Of course. I'd love to go with you." She paused, blushing. "I mean, it'd be great to go see other worlds and things." She added. He nodded, looking almost relieved.

"I'm glad." He answered. She tilted her head to one side, grinning.

"Is that what you wished for? On all those stars?" She asked. He shook his head.

"Not quite." He replied, shrugging.

"Then my guess was close?" She asked, looking interested.

"Pretty close." He admitted. She grinned.

"Was it…that you'd get to see other worlds?" She asked. He shook his head again. She pouted. "Am I close?"

"Nope."

"Oh." She thought for another moment. What else could it be? He asked if she'd go to other worlds with him…then she gasped. "Does it have to do with me?" She asked, her curiosity peaking.

"If I told you then it won't come true." He answered simply. She grinned triumphantly.

"So it _was_ about me! Come on, one little hint?" She pleaded, stepping a little closer to him and fluttering her eyelashes with a giggle. He looked at her, slightly amused.

"Maybe it wasn't about you at all." He said. She blinked.

"But you said…oh. Well then what did you wish about?"

"A chance." He answered pointedly. She looked skeptical.

"A chance? A chance at what?" She asked him, putting her free hand on her hip. There was a long silence before Riku answered.

"I'll tell you if you tell me what you wished for." He answered. She pondered it a moment.

"I wished…" She began, thinking. Riku frowned. He'd been rather banking on her not being willing to tell either. She continued, grinning sheepishly. "Okay, so maybe this sounds stupid, but I wished that I wouldn't remember what happened before I came here." She admitted. He looked totally surprised.

"What? Why?"

"Because then I wouldn't have to go home. If I remember, then I have a responsibility to return to whatever family and friends are waiting for me…but I can't imagine anything better than being able to stay with you…guys." She said, adding the last word as an afterthought while she blushed furiously. A moment later, Riku realized that at any moment he'd have to tell her what he'd wished for in reply, so, thinking fast, he changed the subject.

"Hey, is your neck feeling any better from earlier?" He asked quickly. Skye shrugged.

"A little. It still hurts, but hopefully it'll be better by tomorrow." She looked at him with a pouty smile. "Now, if you were extra nice…" She began. He let out an exaggerated sigh and sat down, pulling her down with him before finally letting go of her hand. She sat cross legged in front of him and bowed her head slightly as he started to massage her shoulders. There was a long silence before Skye finally spoke.

"Thanks…"

"No problem." He answered distractedly. She grinned, hearing the note in his voice.

"Did you know that half of massages end in sex?" She asked casually. He practically jumped away, dropping his hands and looking rather shocked. She burst out laughing

"What?" He asked, thoroughly convinced that he had misheard her. He couldn't tell if she heard him or not, as she was laughing so hard.

"The look…on…your face…" She managed to say between fits of giggles. "I love the shock value, don't you?" Wiping the tears of laughter out of her eyes she smiled innocently. "I'm sorry, am I being too vulgar for poor Riku?" She asked, turning around so that she was sitting facing him. He shook his head.

"No, not really, it's just that it was the last thing I ever expected you to say." He answered. She grinned.

"So, anyways, what was it you wished for a chance at?" She asked. He frowned. So she hadn't forgotten.

"Guess." He said. She crossed her arms.

"No way, I told you!" She whined. "Come on!" She pleaded, leaning towards him. He shrugged, standing up.

"Okay, I'll tell you, but later." He said firmly. She jumped to her feet and grabbed his wrist.

"No way!"

"Why not? All I said was that I'd have to tell you if you told me. I never said when I'd have to tell you." He answered. She pouted at him.

"Pleeeeeeaaaaase?" She asked, tugging at his hand. He let out an exaggerated sigh.

"Fiiiiiine." He said resignedly. She grinned. He stalled. "What if I said you wouldn't want to hear it."

"What makes you think I don't want to hear it?" She asked incredulously. He paused.

"I…well…" He tried to speak, but couldn't really think of anything useful to say. Her tone turned serious.

"Why are you so nervous?" She asked, sounding concerned now.

"I guess I just really don't want to mess it up." He admitted. She couldn't help but grin.

"You? Mess something up? Please." She answered. He grinned in reply. She took a step towards him, pushing a stray hair out of her face. He caught her gaze and held it.

"Could I show you instead?" He asked quietly. She nodded, her stray hair falling back into her face. Riku pushed it out of the way with his thumb and kissed her. He pulled away less than a second later, running his fingers through his hair and staring at the ground.

"What?" Skye asked, surprised and only barely able to say even that one word, her lips having gone completely numb. He started pacing.

"Okay, so that was a kind of dumb move on my part, so I'm sorry. I know we've only known each other for barely a week, but still I can't exactly deny that I like you. I just don't want to mess anything up, so—" He stopped midsentence and then looked up at Skye and found himself vaguely surprised that she was standing so close to him. "I'd better stop before I sound like any more of an idiot than I already do." He said. There was a mischievous look in her eyes.

"Do you want my honest opinion?" She asked after a moment.

"Yes." He nodded, bracing himself for the worst. She held back a smile.

"You're right, you kind of do sound like an idiot." She admitted, a grin tugging at the corners of her lips. He was surprised. He had been expecting one of those polite let downs that makes you feel really stupid. And she definitely just called him an idiot. He opened his mouth to speak, but she put a finger to his lips. "So you'd better just shut up and kiss me again before you make yourself sound even stupider." She said, her voice teasing now.

"More stupid." He corrected automatically, realizing halfway through exactly what it was she'd said. He was very tempted to smack himself across the face for it. She started laughing.

"Stupider! It's a word, I swear!" She answered. He shook his head.

"Nope. Now look who sounds stupid." He said, grinning. She pouted at him.

"That's mean!" She accused, shoving him playfully. He caught both her wrists and pulled her into his arms.

"Would you forgive me if I gave you that second kiss?" He whispered. She shrugged, touching her nose to his. He did as he was told and kissed her again, though this one lingered far longer than the first, and would have lasted even longer had it not been for the lack of air. Skye found herself backed up against one of the trees, Riku's breath making her skin tingle. She gave her head a shake, feeling dizzy and giddy. His arms were still around her waist, and her own arms had found their way around his neck. He smiled warmly.

"So, am I forgiven?" He asked. She shrugged.

"Maybe." She answered breathlessly, grinning knowingly. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Only maybe?" He asked curiously.

"It depends." She told him vaguely. He leaned closer to her.

"Depends on what?"

"On how many more kisses I get." She answered with a hint of a smile. He grinned back.

"How many do you want?"

"…a hundred." She answered after a pause for thought. He frowned overdramatically.

"Only one hundred?" He asked, sounding disappointed. She grinned.

"And what did you have in mind?" She asked, planting a quick kiss on his lips.

"More." He answered simply, kissing her back. "Three…" kiss "…four…" kiss "…five…" kiss "…six…" kiss "…seven…" kiss "…eight…" kiss "…nine…" kiss "…ten." He paused, pushing her hair out of her face. "I should probably stop and save some for later." He said thoughtfully before kissing her lingeringly. "But you taste too good…" he whispered against her lips. She grinned.

"You know, if this were Sora and Kairi, you'd be gagging about now." She told him teasingly. He shrugged.

"But we're not, so I don't care."

"SKYE!" A pair of female voices came floating over the treetops. Skye grinned mischievously and pushed Riku an arm's length away from her.

"Let's not tell." She said, smirking. He grinned.

"We'll see how long it takes them to guess." He agreed. She grinned and, looking around quickly, kissed him one last time before she ran off into the trees. She paused for a moment, looking back, and winked, giggling.

"I'm over here!" She shouted. There was a great commotion from further down the path and met Kairi and Selphie there a moment later. Kairi flashed a smile at her as she arrived.

"Selphie told me about you and Riku." She said. Skye faltered, surprised.

"W-what?" She asked, wondering how they could have possibly seen them on the beach from where they were.

"Yup! I told her about seeing you and Riku at the Square earlier and we decided that the surprise couldn't wait!" Selphie explained. Skye relaxed visibly.

"So, you want to tell me what this surprise is?" She asked casually. Selphie and Kairi each grabbed one of her hands and proceeded to practically drag her back in the direction of the docks. They passed Riku on the way.

"Um…hi?" He said, sounding confused as he saw what was going on. He shot Skye a questioning look and she replied with a shrug, looking rather afraid of the chattering girls. The two led Skye onto the dock and showed her to the boat. Kairi's boat had been tied to the dock, hidden completely from view by the leaves. Skye grinned to herself as she thought of what might have happened had Selphie and Kairi arrived a few minutes earlier, or hadn't starting yelled for her halfway down the forested path.

Selphie, Kairi, Lulu and now Skye had congregated in Kairi's house. Selphie and Kairi were sitting on the bed, Lulu was sitting regally in the armchair and Skye was sitting cross-legged on the beanbag chair. Lulu was filing her nails, apparently taking no interest in what was going on. Selphie cleared her throat.

"So! Let's begin." She said. Lulu spoke next.

"You should leave her be. She's only been here a week. Look how long Kairi took. Let her figure this one out by herself. Or at least give her a little while longer." She said, not looking up from her fingers. Kairi frowned.

"But that's no fun!" She answered. "Anyways! We brought you here to propose our plan to you." She said, looking at Skye. Selphie nodded, grinning so widely it looked like she'd break.

"It's clear to all three of us…"

"Two. Not me." Lulu interjected. Selphie glared at her and continued.

"Whatever. Anyways, it's clear that you and Riku are practically meant from each other. So, we've created a plan to get you two together!" She announced, clapping her hands. Skye froze, trying desperately to contain her laughter. Apparently the look on her face was rather disturbing, because even Lulu looked rather worried.

"I told you this was a bad idea. Don't worry Skye, I'll stop their matchmaking scheme at a moments notice if you want me to." She offered. Skye cleared her throat.

"That's alright Lulu, but thanks. I'd like to here more about this plan first." She said, looking amused. Kairi giggled.

"Our plan…is for you to seduce him." Selphie said, looking very smug. Skye almost fell over she was laughing so hard. Selphie pouted. Kairi, hiding her own laughter, patted Selphie on the back.

"It's okay Selph, I think it's a good idea." She said consolingly. Skye, still chuckling, nodded.

"Sorry, I just wasn't expecting that. I still want to hear more." So, while Kairi and Selphie outlined all of the lessons in the 'art of seduction', the plans of shopping and other such essential information, Skye was forming her own plan. _Since we aren't going to tell them, I can have some fun with Riku with this…poor Riku. _She thought with an evil grin.

"I like this plan. Let's do it." She said. Selphie grinned back at her.

"Operation Not-So-Innocent is a go! Alright!"

The four girls spent at least two hours putting together their collective knowledge in seducing teenage boys, and teaching Skye all of it. Even Lulu got involved once she was convinced that Skye actually thought it was a good idea. Much giggling ensued and the plan unfolded rather gracefully. Kairi grinned evilly.

"Well, won't Riku have a fun day ahead of him tomorrow..."

----------------------------------------

Okay! Sorry for the delay! I got my hands on KH2! I beat it so we don't have to worry anymore. Yes, I beat it. In a week and a half. I'm a nerd. But that's okay! Make sure to RnR, and this one is dedicated to my crazy Riku fangirl Emma!


	7. Chapter 7: Plans in Action

**Chapter 7: Plans in Action**

Morning rolled around and Skye found herself kidnapped by Selphie and Kairi once again. Kairi and Skye changed into the same bathing suits they'd worn before, and Selphie had a bright yellow one of the same style as Skye's. They met Lulu on Paopu Island. She had a black bikini, and was wearing only the bottom. She was lying on her stomach on her towel, reading, her top discarded next to her. Selphie sat down next to her.

"Hey Lu. You better hope Wakka doesn't show up, with you like that." She said offhandedly. Lulu looked up from her book.

"Why?" She asked tiredly. Then she blinked. "Oh right. Whatever. I'm reading." She muttered, turning her attention back to her book. Kairi spread her towel next to Selphie and stretched out on it. Skye relaxed on the trunk of the paopu tree. Selphie let out a contented sigh and then looked at Kairi.

"So, how's the party planning coming?" She asked. Kairi grinned.

"Great! It's gonna be so much fun!" She answered excitedly. "We're gonna have it in Lilac Square, and it's a formal, which means…"

"AN EXCUSE TO GO SHOPPING EVEN MORE!" Selphie shouted happily. Skye grinned.

"Because we totally need an excuse to do more shopping." She commented, chuckling. Selpie looked thoughtful.

"I guess that's true… oh well, whatever." She shrugged, her eyes following a red blob flying through the air with a confused look on her face. Lulu saw the look on Selphie's face and looked up on time to have the red blob explode on her head. Water gushed out and soaked her. She let out a yelp and leaned over, looking down into the water where laughter was running rampant. Sora, Riku, Wakka and Irvine were all floating on the surface, carrying armfuls of waterballoons and killing themselves laughing. Lulu let out a growl.

"WAKKA! I'm going to KILL you!" She reached for her bikini top and scrambled to put it on as a rain of more multi-coloured waterballoons rained down on the girls. Skye hopped off the paopu tree and hid behind the trunk, peeking out and watching where the balloons were coming from. Kairi was on her feet, grabbing her towel and hiding behind Skye. Selphie was trying to help Lulu, and both girls were getting pummeled with waterballoons. Skye grinned, twisting around to face Kairi.

"Come on." She whispered, pointing to where the guys were floating just beneath their view in the water. She took a careful step out from behind the tree and, keeping her eyes on the balloons, caught one with a sly grin and handed it to Kairi. Catching another, she tossed it to Lulu, who was running towards the tree for cover. She caught another three, one of which she gave to Selphie, and Kairi caught two more. A moment later, the barrage of balloons stopped as the boys ran out. Wakka was the first to start climbing out of the water, a smug grin on his face. He got a balloon in the face from Lulu and went toppling back into the water. Kairi grinned and handed one of her three to the smug goth. There was some muffle shouts and more laughter and then Riku's head appeared, and both Skye and Kairi hit him. He let out a yelp, holding carefully onto the side, and managed to pull himself up. Sora's head appeared over the edge a moment later, and he got one of Kairi's balloons as Skye hit Riku again, which threw him off balance and sent him back into the water again. Wakka and Irvine popped up and both of them got hit, by Lulu and Selphie respectively. They had all dropped into the water again, and were afraid to show their faces again, not realizing that the girls didn't have any balloons left.

"Is it safe?" Sora asked meekly after a moment.

"Come up and see." Kairi answered.

"Come on, we were just having some fun, ya?" Wakka tone of voice was pleading. Selphie giggled.

"But this is great fun!"

"Maybe for you, but not for us!" Irvine answered.

"Then you'll remember this next time you decide to attack us with water balloons." Skye said, walking over to the edge and peering down at them. Riku frowned.

"You didn't even get wet!" He complained. She leaned over.

"Well, you might do well to actually aim, as opposed to throwing the balloons randomly all over the place." She stated. Just then, Kairi appeared behind her and gave her a quick push, sending her tumbling into the water. Riku and Sora both had to move to avoid being hit. Skye surfaced, sputtering.

"What was that for?" She asked with a frown. Kairi grinned.

"Riku was right. You didn't even get wet. That's not very fair to the rest of us, is it?" She answered with a giggle, offering her a hand up. Skye took the hand gratefully, and pulled the other girl into the water with her.

"Hey!" Kairi shrieked, hitting the water with a splash. Wakka decided it would be a good idea to take advantage of this distraction and climb out. Sora caught on and followed suit. As Wakka climbed up, Sora right behind him, Lulu smirked and pushed him. Wakka tried to catch his balance and did so, but at the expense of knocking Sora back into the water with a resounding splash. When he surfaced, he found Kairi laughing at him. He made a face and stuck his tongue out at her. She smiled innocently.

"Don't stick your tongue out unless you intend to use it." She stated. Sora grinned and stuck his tongue out at her again. Kairi giggled, drifting closer to him. Skye glanced around and then caught Riku's gaze. With a sly wink, she stuck her tongue out at him. He arched an eyebrow. Selphie, who saw the silent exchange, stifled a giggle before finding herself distracted by a certain boy of her own. Lulu and Wakka were arguing heatedly over something as they walked over the wooden bridge. The fight ended abruptly and they ended up cuddling on the beach only a moment later. Meanwhile, the rest had made their way out of the water and Skye reclaimed her place on the paopu tree. Riku, standing next to her, shook his head like a dog, spraying water everywhere.

"Hey!" She complained, trying in vain to shield herself.

"What, it's not like you weren't already wet. You have Kairi to thank for that." He answered casually.

"I know." She said shortly, her eyes shooting daggers at the redhead. He laughed. She crossed her arms. "Are you laughing at me?" She asked. He shrugged.

"I'm not saying yes, but I'm not saying no."

"You're laughing at me." She decided disapprovingly.

"I never said I was laughing at you." He answered.

"But you implied it." She stated. He shrugged.

"I did not."

"_Why_ are you arguing this?" She asked, amused.

"Because I can."

"Okay fine, I know you were laughing at me because… I can read minds." She told him, making a motion like she was peering into a crystal ball.

"Oh reaaaally. Okay, what am I thinking about right now?" He asked skeptically. _I'm thinking about how I'm starting to appreciate sunbathing if it means you in a bikini._ He thought with a mischievous smile._ And about how I wish Sora and Kairi and Selphie and Irvine would go away because your lips are looking particularly tasty about now. And…_ Riku had lost himself in his own personal la-la-land and jumped when she answered him. She was leaning towards him, her nose almost touching his and her eyes dancing with a hint of laughter.

"Why, you're thinking about how sexy I am, of course." She whispered before swinging her legs over the trunk, hopping down on the other side and wrapping her towel around her waist. Riku blinked.

"Wait, what?" He asked, his mouth hanging open in surprise at just how correct she was. She smiled slyly at him, winking. Kairi and Selphie both looked at them, and then they hurried over to Skye, each taking an arm. The three girls walked across the bridge, Kairi and Selphie both talking at the same time and then listening intently to Skye's whispered replies. Sora and Irvine, who found themselves suddenly abandoned, looked at Riku, who was still gaping at Skye with shade of red passing over his surprised features.

"What was that all about?" Irvine asked after a moment. Sora smirked.

"Riku's blushing." He stated. Riku ignored the comment.

"Sora, did you ever meet anyone who could read minds on your journey?" He asked after a moment. Sora looked confused.

"No…" He answered slowly. They heard laughter from the beach and looked down. Skye, Kairi and Selphie were standing on the shoreline, grinning at them.

"Relax Riku! It was a joke!" Skye called. "You spaced out and it was totally obvious, that's all. Are you still freaking out about it?" She asked, looking amused.

"No!" Riku called in answer.

"Yes!" Sora and Irvine shouted at the same time. Riku glared at them. Still chuckling, the girls meandered further down the beach. Irvine crossed his arms.

"You need to do something about your girl problem." He stated. Riku blinked.

"What girl problem?" He asked, pretending to be clueless. Sora pointed at Skye.

"That girl problem."

"She's not a problem." Riku answered nonchalantly.

"Uh-huh."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

A week passed, and Skye and Riku kept their little secret, finding more and more creative excuses to be alone together. Skye didn't have to work very hard, since all the girls thought they were in on it, with their 'master plan of seduction' and all, which Skye took every advantage of. Riku didn't have to worry much, since Wakka and Irvine never paid attention to anything that didn't have to do with either Lulu, blitzball and food, or Selphie, six shooters and food, respectively (yes, despite his peaceful nature, Irvine had a way with guns). All he ever had to worry about was Sora, who was famed for this thick head and couldn't recognize any form of subtlety if it smacked him across the face, which meant that he really didn't actually have to worry about making a feasible excuse to give to Sora at all. It was evening, and Kairi had announced that they should have another camp fire, so Sora, Kairi, Riku and Skye built the fire, this time with dry wood. Selphie and Lulu showed up shortly after, and then Wakka and Irvine shortly after that. Sora and Kairi were being fluffy and adorable. Kairi was sitting on his lap and they were whispering to each other. Selphie giggled.

"Aren't they cute?" She asked, practically squealing. Lulu just shrugged. Skye grinned.

"Almost as cute as Lulu and Wakka." She answered. Lulu and Wakka both blushed and glared at her. She, Riku, Sora and Kairi had caught the two of them in a rather 'intimate' moment the day before. Selphie blinked, looking confused.

"Okay, what happened?" She demanded, seeing the amused expressions on the faces of the four.

"See, yesterday – Ouch!" Riku started to explain, but Lulu cast Thunder and zapped him. He jumped, glaring at her. Everyone else started laughing. He frowned. "Ya, ya, let's all laugh at Riku."

"Awww, is Riku cranky?" Skye asked, edging closer to him. Lowering her voice, she added. "I bet I know how to make you feel better." He shot her an evil look and she knew just what he was thinking: _you're being downright cruel, because you know what I want and you know I can't have it with everyone else here!_ She cocked an eyebrow, replying with a look that said _Is that a challenge? I'm only just getting started._ He caught her meaning, because he only held her gaze for a moment before looking away with a huff. No one else was sure what exactly had just happened, but Irvine was pretty sure he could guess what was up.

"Hey Riku, do you and Skye want to go get more wood? We're running low." Surprisingly enough, this was actually true. The fire was roaring and eating up all the logs impossibly fast. Both of them got to their feet and started to walk away. Selphie looked at her boyfriend.

"Has Riku told you he likes Skye?"

"Yep!" Sora answered instead, beaming with pride. "We had to practically force it out of him, but he admitted it after a while." Then his face fell. "But we weren't really supposed to tell anyways."

"That's okay, we already knew." Kairi assured him. Meanwhile, Skye glanced over her shoulder and tried not to laugh.

"You'd think they'd at least wait until we're out of ear shot before they try to talk about us." She whispered, choked with laughter. Riku snickered, nodding. As soon as he was sure they were out of the sight of the others, he caught her by the waist and pulled her towards him. They were close enough that their noses were touching. He touched his lips to hers and then drew her closer, brushing his lips against the hollow beneath her ear, making her legs turn to jelly.

"You'd better stop being such a tease before I do something we might regret." He murmured. She giggled.

"If you're thinking what I think you are, regret would be the last thing that I'd be feeling." She assured him with a seductive smile.

………………………………………………………

wink wink nudge nudge hint hint… next chappie will be oh so much fun dearies! Remember to review all! And so sorry for taking so long to update, I may or may not be working on a yaoi one-shot... 3


	8. Chapter 8: A Past that Haunts

Okay, so I'm pretty sure I explained this party deal somewhere in the fic, but as I can't find it, I may have simply gone crazy. So! The party that Kairi is planning is the one that's being thrown in honour of the second anniversary of Sora and Riku's return to the Islands (after KH1). Kairi has been put in charge of the planning by her father the mayor! Okay? Okay! Let's get this party started!

**Chapter 8: A Past that Haunts**

----- Three months later -----

_Knock knock knock_

_GASP! _

"Skye?" Grandma Rose's voice was muffled through the closed door.

"Y-yes?"

"Are you alright?"

"I'm just fine!"

"Are you sure? I heard some noise so I thought I'd come see if you were alright."

"Thank you, but there's nothing wrong." She insisted. She stood up out of bed and wrapped the blankets swiftly around herself. She glanced at herself in the mirror and paused to adjust her hair so that it hid the red mark beginning to form on her neck, then opened the door just a crack, smiling convincingly. Rose was standing in the hall, looking worried. Once she saw Skye, she was finally convinced that that she was alright.

"Okay, I'm glad nothing's wrong. Sorry to wake you dear." She said with an apologetic smile.

"Oh no, not at all. I'm sorry if w…I disturbed you." She said, thankful for the gloominess of nighttime as it hid her blush at her obvious blunder. Grandma Rose didn't seem to notice. She smiled, looking like she was going to head back to bed, but paused, straining to see into Skye's room. Skye blinked in confusion.

"I just saw something move." Rose explained, still trying to see in. Skye looked over her shoulder. Riku was standing in front of the window, having just pulled on his shirt. He looked just as disheveled as she did. She shot him a look that told him to shut up and don't move and then looked back at Grandma Rose.

"Nope, I don't see anything. Anyways, good night."

"Good night!" Rose replied, before disappearing back into her own room. Skye shut the door and smirked at the figure leaning against the window pane.

"That was much too close." She said, walking towards him. "This is the fourth time she's nearly walked in on us." She looked half disgusted, half amused at the thought of being caught by Riku's grandmother. How awkward would that be?

"Then we'll have to find somewhere else to go in the near future." He answered, smirking back at her. She stifled a laugh and smiled sweetly at him.

"So, can I expect to have a date for the celebrations tonight?" She asked casually. Riku crossed his arms.

"Did you actually have to ask?" He asked, looking amused. She shrugged.

"I have to have something to tell Kairi and Selphie."

"Like what? That Grandma Rose almost walked in on us and you asked me as I was escaping through the window?" He suggested, trying not to laugh. She pouted at him and looked for an excuse to change the subject. Her hand fell across the warm skin on her neck and she narrowed her eyes at him.

"If I end up having to explain this to the girls, I'm going to hurt you." She said threateningly, pointing to the red mark on her neck. He grinned.

"As I recall, a few minutes ago you were asking for more…" He whispered, one arm snaking around her waist and pulling her to him. She looked thoughtful for a moment and then pouted.

"I hate not winning against you…" She whispered against his lips.

"Mmm, I'm sure I can think of a few ways to make you feel better…" He replied, running his hand up her collarbone, trailing his fingers along her neck and jaw line. A distant laugh made them jump and both looked out the window. There was no sign of life along the street. Riku guided her lips to his and kissed her hungrily. When they finally broke apart, both were once again breathing raggedly.

"I guess you should go then…" She said reluctantly. He nodded.

"But I don't really want to." He answered, leaning down to kiss her again. She put her index finger to his lips, glancing outside and then looking at him expectantly. He sighed over-dramatically. "Alright…" He paused. "But I'm not even going to get to see you until tonight because you know you and Kairi and Selphie and Lulu are going to spend the _entire_ day getting ready…" He gave her a look that was just about as close to a pout as anyone was ever going to get from him, and then smiled, kissing her a few more times despite her most unconvincing protests.

"Riku! giggle Come on! Y-you have to go!" He kissed her once more.

"Just to tide me over until I'm allowed to see you again." He said with a grin. She rolled her eyes.

"You can come see me whenever you want."

"Nope, Selphie has already made it clear that if anyone disturbs you girls while you spend the day preening, they will be brutally punished." He visibly shuddered at the memory of Selphie's threat. She was always very bright and happy, but she could be scary sometimes. Skye suppressed a laugh. She'd been there when Selphie had made the rather terrifying threat.

"Oh come on, she wasn't actually serious."

"Well I'm not going to be the one to take that chance." He replied, sitting down on the window sill and swinging his legs through the opening. She smiled and sat down on her bed, pulling the sheets tighter around her. He looked over his shoulder at her and grinned. "Adieu, until the morrow, fair maiden." He said, tipping an invisible hat to her. She smiled and crossed her arms. With that, he disappeared into the night.

…………………Later……………………

"It's still an hour before we have to be there."

"But Kairi is in charge, she should be there early right?"

"I guess, but what if they aren't finished getting ready?"

"I don' wanna be the one to face Selphie if they aren't, man."

"Then someone just go in and ask if they're ready."

"Okay, why don't you go?"

"…why doesn't Irvine go?"

"Why me!"

"Because the crazy one's _your_ girlfriend!"

"Yeh man, you subject yourself to that voluntarily."

"Hey!"

"Chill, I was kidding, ya?"

"…Why don't we meet them at the Square?"

"Hey, good idea!"

"What's this? Sora had a good idea? Congrats, I knew the time would come some day!"

"…?"

"…He doesn't get it…"

"…HEEEEEY! RIIIKUUU! THAT'S MEEEAAAAN!"

…………………………………..

Earlier that afternoon, the girls were gathered in Kairi's room. Skye's curls were being very unruly, and Selphie had given up on them. Lulu then decided that she would be willing to work her self-proclaimed magic on her hair. With a gentle hand and some hairspray, she managed to tame it and then started to style it. She twisted it up and clipped it to the back of her head, letting some strands of hair fall into her face. Skye smiled.

"Thanks Lulu!" She said, obviously pleased. Lulu just smiled in reply, and then, looking over her handiwork, caught sight of the remnants of the betraying red mark. She raised an eyebrow, and it took Skye a long moment to realize what the goth was looking at. Fighting a blush, she tried to look clueless.

"What?" She asked. Lulu passed her fingers over the sensitive skin.

"That." She answered. Skye tried to look surprised as she looked at it in the mirror.

"Ohhh… I bet I know what it's from." She said matter-of-factly and lying through her teeth. "When we went shopping yesterday, I tried on some perfume at the mall and I probably had a reaction to it." She said, secretly pleased with her story. Lulu nodded, still suspicious, but at least Skye had been believable enough that she didn't press the matter. Kairi had come over in the middle of the story, and was inspecting the mark.

"It looks like it's going to go away by itself, but a little bit of lotion should help it along the way…" She decided, searching through her stuff. So, with a lot of time and a little moisturizer, it was declared disappeared as the doorbell rang. Selphie sighed and got to her feet. She was wearing a summery peach coloured dress that fell to her knees.

"If this is the guys, they're lucky we finished early." She said, disappearing to go answer the door. Lulu rolled her eyes. She was in a long black strapless that swept to the floor. Kairi was wearing a lavender halter-style dress that fell to about midway up her thigh. Skye was wearing a deep red dress that went to the floor, with thick straps that hung off her shoulders and a slit up each side with a ribbon lacing the slits closed to about an inch apart. Skye stood up and peered out the door to see if she could see what was going on at the front door. All she could hear was muffled voices. She shrugged at Lulu's questioning look. Kairi smiled.

"You look nice Skye. And I know a certain someone who might just be struck dumb when he sees you." She announced. Skye grinned bashfully.

"Thanks Kairi. You look awesome too." She answered. Lulu nodded.

"Careful Sora doesn't drool too much, I've heard saliva stains terribly." She added, smirking. Kairi laughed. Selphie appeared at the doorway a moment later.

"Kairi's dad got a limo!" She announced, gushing. There was much excitement at this statement. The girls ran downstairs in a flurry, Kairi pausing her hug her father, and then the group filed outside and into the stretch limo. As they closed the door, they heard shouting from just around the corner. A second later, Sora, Riku, Irvine and Wakka rounded the corner. Sora was glaring at Riku, who in turn was looking very smug. Wakka and Irvine were each looking very amused. Selphie stepped out and waved to them.

"Hurry up or you're walking!" She shouted. They started, all attentions on her as she stood at the door of a very luxurious limo. Then they seemed to get their senses back and ran towards her. Each of them was dressed to impress. Selphie secretly surprised that Wakka was willing to put on a tie. It was hard enough convincing him to wear the school uniform. They reached her and got in, looking very pleased with the mode of transportation.

………………………………………..

"And now we will begin the celebrations by allowing our heroes the first dance!" A speaker stated. There was applause and all eyes turned to the table where Sora and Riku were sitting. Sora grinned goofily and stood up, Kairi getting up from next to him. Riku got to his feet a moment later, offering a hand to Skye, which she took gratefully. They walked out into the middle of the Square where Sora and Kairi were waiting. The dance began and Skye smiled innocently.

"And here I thought you wouldn't be one to dance." She said, her eyes dancing amusedly.

"What kind of a date would I be if I didn't dance with you?" He asked in reply, wondering what she had up her sleeve.

"A bad one." She admitted. "But that just goes to show what I expected." She added, grinning triumphantly. He frowned and she sighed, having to forcefully keep herself from pouncing on the poor boy then and there.

"I was joking, now don't do that."

"Do what?" He asked, grinning evilly, knowing exactly what. She didn't answer and he frowned again. She bit her lip.

"Stop it or I can't be held responsible for my actions." She whispered. He nodded.

"I think I like the sound of that." He answered with a grin. She sighed audibly. That same frown passed over his face again and she nearly groaned, biting her tongue so hard that it was actually visible. Then, getting a better idea, she rested her head on his shoulder.

"There. Now I can't see your stupid pout." She commented. He shrugged.

"I can't say I mind this either." He said, before realizing what she said. "Hey, I don't pout."

"Sure looked like it."

"…"

"I win." She stated in a sing-songy voice. "Hey, Selphie's staring at us."

"Are you surprised?" He asked, amused. "You know she'll be gushing over this dance for a week." Skye grinned.

"No, I'm not really surprised, it's just that she looks kind of like a fish." She answered, choked with laughter. Riku snickered and then glanced around.

"Care to disappear for a while?" He asked. She nodded.

"I would love to. I missed you all day today." She admitted, guiding him towards a hidden nook around the edge of the Square. As soon as they disappeared inside it, she began to trail kisses along his jaw, planting one final kiss on his lips which ended up lingering much longer than either had realized or intended. He answered by trailing butterfly kisses down her neck and along her shoulder and then back again.

"Skye…" he whispered, sounding as if he was going to continue, but didn't. She wrapped one of her arms around his neck and pulled him closer.

"Hmm?" He smiled, placing a kiss on the corner of her lips.

"I love you." He said quietly. She smiled playfully.

"I love you more."

"Is that a challenge?" He asked in reply. She shrugged.

"Depends on what you'd do to prove me wrong."

"I think you can guess." He answered with a sly smile. She grinned.

"Then yes." She whispered against his lips, letting his mouth take hers. They broke apart to the sound of Kairi's voice.

"Have you seen Riku?" She asked. The reply sounded like it was from Lulu.

"No, not since him and Skye were dancing. It wasn't long ago, maybe that's where they still are."

"Maybe…" Then there was the sound of footsteps as Kairi apparently walked away. Riku peered out into the Square.

"I guess I should go."

"No, stay. Let them find us." She answered, catching his shoulder. He smirked.

"And ruin the fun?" He asked. She smiled.

"Who knew they were so clueless?" She paused, it being her turn to peek out of their little hiding spot. "I guess I'll go back to the table."

"I'll go find Kairi." He said, disappearing into the throng of people. She sighed and walked out, eyes passing over the Square. Truthfully, she didn't want to go back to the table yet, so she slipped outside of Lilac Square and onto the beach. She pulled her shoes off and walked down the length of the beach, the water on one side and the wall of lilac bushes that surrounded the Square on the other. She wandered down the beach, letting the wind tug at her dress and her hair. Some unknown scent has been caught on the wind and carried to her. She looked surprised. It was an utterly vile smell, like the dank smell of decomposing wood overtoned by the smell of burning plastic. She made a face, wondering what it was. Oddly enough, she recognized it, but from where? She paused, thinking hard. Then she froze. Angry shouts floated through her mind, and the rank smell was stronger. There was fire, and she was afraid, but what of? Then she gave her head a shake and the memory cleared just as quickly as it had come. She didn't much want to go for a walk anymore. Picking up her pace, she walked quickly towards the entrance of the Square, just beyond which she knew the table was. Kairi and Riku were walking back to the table as she arrived. All eyes were on her, all looking rather curious and Skye became suddenly aware of just what she looked like. More of her hair had fallen out of the clip, she was out of breath from the pace at which she walked and she knew her lips were bruising. She looked totally disheveled. Kairi took her seat, looking amused, but Riku made no move to sit down. Instead, he walked towards her. He paused in front of her, looking unsure. Then, an almost defeated expression passed across his face and he tilted her face up to his and kissed her gently.

"Sorry." He murmured afterwards. "I couldn't help myself." Skye glanced over at the table, where all 12 eyes were wide and fixed on them. She grinned.

"Not at all. The looks on their faces will provide endless entertainment, don't you think?" She asked. Riku looked and started to laugh. She smiled smugly. "So, what was it that Kairi wanted to talk to you about?" She asked. He grinned.

"You. I believe her exact words were 'hurry up and kiss her already'. So I did."

…………………………………

The night passed quickly and they all said their goodnights. Riku was lying on his bed. He was dressed in jeans and a shirt, as he was planning on paying a visit to Skye once the last of the revelers were off the street. He dozed for a while, listening to the sounds of the people through his open window. He was on the edge of sleep when the sound of shattering glass jolted him awake. Wide eyed and surprised, he looked out the window in the direction of the sound. He gaped at the sight of three cloaked figures standing on his grandmother's front porch, the broken glass from the front window glittering on the ground around them. Shocked, and now angry, he ran as fast as he could outside and down the street. Sora and Kairi appeared outside a few moments later, as did a few others. One of the figures was standing in the doorway, while the others had apparently disappeared into the house. The one in the doorway appeared to be the leader, and he was holding something in one gloved hand. Riku made it to about half way to the house when the other two reappeared from within the house. It took Riku a moment to realize what they were dragging behind them: a thrashing Skye. He froze. She shouted, kicked, bit and ripped, fighting her captors every inch of the way. One of them gave her a sharp kick to the ribs and she yelped in pain.

"Shut up and stop moving or the next kick will do you more damage, I promise you." The figure grunted angrily. She glared and spat at him. He growled and lifted his fist to hit her. She cringed, but Riku came to his senses then and ran towards them.

"HEY!" At his shout, Sora and Kairi jumped into action, racing after him. The leader of the cloaked figures held out the object in his hand and muttered something. There was a loud crack and dark tendrils grew out from it, twisting and spreading until a dark portal was formed. He stepped through it, the two dragging Skye following close behind. Riku pushed himself to run faster, as the portal began to close. He launched himself at it, diving through as it closed, hearing the strangled shouts of his friends behind him:

"RIKU!" He fell through darkness for a moment before crashing into a cold, damp, wooden floor. Before he could make heads or tails of his surroundings, a dizzying pain blossomed in the side of his head and he blacked out.

……………………………………………………

Dun Dun Dun! Okay! And the story starts to pick up a little! Hurrah! And now for a most angsty next chapter… PS: the story gets a little darker for a little while now. HURRAH FOR THE PLOT FINALLY ACTUALLY HAPPENING! Okay, now review, right? And by the way, be proud of me that I updated so fast, i even had this chappie ready yesterday, but the document upload wouldn't work... oh well, here it is and the next chappie will more than likely come just as fast! Yay!


	9. Chapter 9: Heartbreak

**Chapter 9: Heartbreak**

It took a full hour before Skye was subdued enough that the four men pinning her could release her long enough to shackle her ankles to the mast. She was standing on the deck of a large wooden ship, glaring furiously at her three captors, as well as the four guards standing behind her that had been the ones pinning her. Both of her ankles were chained to the bottom on the mast, giving her about a three foot radius around the mast to walk. Her lip was swelling, split and bleeding from a nasty punch she took to the jaw. It was predawn and the air was grey with mist. She didn't have any idea where she was, or where there might be land, as the fog shrouded everything from sight that was more than ten feet away. She tugged absently on the chains.

"I don't care what you want, you aren't getting it from me." She stated firmly. The leader pulled back his hood. He had striking blue eyes and hair as black and curly as her own, though his was cropped short.

"It would be wise not to cross me." He answered coldly, tossing a small knife to her feet. Suspicious, she watched it for a long moment and then looked up at him.

"What's this for?" She asked, nudging the handle of the weapon with her foot. The leader crossed his arms.

"You see Skye, I need a blood sacrifice." He began. She crossed her arms.

"And you went all the way to the Islands and kidnapped me for some blood sacrifice? Why not use one of your goons?" She asked, her voice just as cutting and cold as his.

"Because I need yours. You have the blood I need and no one else. Of course, I could use mine, but why take my own life when I can take someone else's instead?" He replied, smiling viciously. She swore at him, spitting out colourful words that she didn't even know she knew, scooping up the knife and throwing it at him. He barely sidestepped it and the metal slammed into the wood of the cabin behind him, embedding itself.

"I already told you I won't do anything you ask of me." She said defiantly. "Why don't you just kill me yourself?" She asked, wondering why he apparently wanted her to commit suicide.

"Because I need my sacrifice to be willing." He answered.

"I won't do it." She told him. He pried the knife out of the wood and shook his head.

"I think I might know how to change your mind." He said, his gaze hardening. He turned to his two cloaked companions and they held a whispered conversation. Skye took the chance to see if there was any way she might escape. Her outlook was pretty low; even if she could get out of the chains, she had no where to go from there but into the water, which wouldn't be the best idea seeing as how she didn't know which direction she might find land. Her attention was drawn back to the man with the creaking of a door opening. The door to the cabin was open. It was dark inside, and the two cloaked man were standing in the doorway, blocking Skye's view of what was going on inside. She caught glimpses of the four guards shuffling around, and then the two cloaked men stepped aside, and she gasped, horrified. The four guards were dragging an unconscious Riku out onto the deck. There was blood running freely down the side of his face from a wide wound.

"Riku!" She tried to get to him, momentarily forgetting the shackles. She tripped once there was no length left in the chains and she dropped to her hands and knees, watching as the guards dropped him unceremoniously to the ground. The man looked at her.

"So, have you changed your mind?"

…………………………………………………

Riku woke up with a splitting headache. He groaned, touching the dried blood on his forehead. There was a long gash running from just about his right eyebrow to just below his temple on that same side. He sat up and the room began to spin. He groaned again and held his head in his hands, waiting for the ground to right itself as his head swam. He looked up again in a few moments. He was sitting on a little cot in a stone cell, which contained nothing but himself, the bed and a bucket that apparently served as a toilet. The entire wall to his left was made of bars, and a hall ran along it. He could see only the cell opposite his, but he assumed that there were lots of other cells running along the hallway. There was a metal bridge running from above his cell to above the cell opposite, where there was a door and a thin walkway running along the wall, and though he couldn't see it, he could only assume that there was a similar door and walkway above his own cell. Only then did he notice the pitcher of water sitting just inside the cell. He tried to stand up and swayed, dizzied again. He sat down, and a moment later, tried again. It took him a few tries before he could stay on his feet, and then a few more tries before he could put one foot in front of the other and keep his balance. He walked carefully forward, collected the pitcher of water and then made his way back to the cot and sat down. He swallowed a mouthful and realized just how thirsty he was. He downed the entire pitcher in moments, despite the staleness of the water. Riku heard the sound of feet on stone and walked over to the bars, looking down the hallway. A man, about an inch shorter than himself, wearing leather armor and carrying a short sword, was walking down the hallway towards his cell. The man paused in front of him, grinning cruelly.

"Finally awake eh? I'll bet you're starting to regret following Dax now, aren't ya?" He chuckled as if he's made some terribly humorous joke. Riku glared at him.

"Who's Dax?" He asked carelessly. The man stopped laughing.

"You'll learn soon enough." With that he continued marching down the hallway. Riku sighed and looked around. There was a small barred window over the cot, and he could just see the stars outside, and he could hear the dull thumping of water against rocks. It lulled him to sleep, bringing with to relief from the pains in his head.

Riku woke later to the sound of rattling. He sat up and shook the grogginess out of his head. The same guard from before was standing at his cell, fiddling with a large ring of keys and scowling. He found the key he was looking for and unlocked the door to the cell, though his expression became even more unpleasant, if possible, as he spoke, sliding the door open.

"Miss Skye wishes to speak with you." He said. Riku blinked. They kidnapped her and abused her, and now she's being called Miss Skye, as if she was some noble lady. It put him on edge. There was something weird going on, what was for sure. He followed the guard out of the cell and down the hallway. It was long enough that there had to be at least a hundred cells along its walls. There were multiple 'bridges' crossing over the hallway above them at even intervals, each with its own doors at either end. There was a spiral stone staircase at the end of the hallway that led to a landing, which connected the metal walkways running along each of the walls. There was a large impressive looking door at the center of this landing, and it was apparently where Riku was going. His eyes kept flickering about of their own accord, scanning for any sign of movement. He didn't trust anything here. The guard led him up the staircase and to the door. He knocked three times, and Skye's voice called through the door to come in. Riku's heart leapt into his throat. _At least she's okay_. The guard opened the door and motioned for Riku to go in, before the slamming the door shut again, and apparently locking it. The room was much darker than the cells, even with their minimal light; this room was quite big, but was only lit by two small torches on either side of the door. The room was cold and stone, with no furniture or decoration other than the chair in the middle of the room, on which Skye was sitting. She was dressed completely in black, in a Victorian style, with boots, and gloves and a long dress with a high collar so that next to no skin showed. Riku assumed that this was the fashion in this world, but he was wrong; she had requested an outfit that would cover her completely so that he wouldn't see the bruises that had formed thanks to their abuse as punishment for her constant and violent resistance on the ship. Riku rushed forward, catching her in his arms. She allowed him to, but didn't return the embrace. He tried to kiss her and she turned her head so that his lips met her cheek. He let her go, looking worried, and a little hurt. She kept her eyes on the floor.

"You've been out cold for almost three days. We arrived at the Fortress yesterday. I'm sorry for what they did to you." She said slowly. He frowned, reaching out and tilting her face up to his. He looked into her eyes for a moment before she pulled away and looked back at the floor. She looked like she'd been crying.

"Skye… what's wrong?" He asked carefully. She took in a shaky breath, as if she was going to start crying again. There was a long silence before she finally spoke.

"I'm…I'm sorry Riku. I-I remembered and…well…there's someone else…" She said, turning her eyes to the wall to her right. Riku froze, his heart dropping like a stone into the pit of his stomach.

"W-what?"

"There's someone else in this fortress…I love him…" There was another long silence. "I'm sorry Riku." It felt like time stopped and he found that his mind took a painfully long time to understand what had just been said to him, leaving his heart with the feeling of being twisted and crushed. His own eyes dropped to the floor, and then he looked up at her again, his gaze hard with anger. He turned on his heel and marched towards the door. Hearing the noise, Skye looked up.

"Riku! Wait!" She tried to call, but he interrupted her.

"No, tell your guard I want out." He said, slamming his fist against the door. It opened instantly, and he stalked out, disappearing down the staircase as the guard hurried to keep up with his pace. If he'd waited just a little longer, he would have seen the tears shining in her eyes. He would have seen the pained look on her face. He would have seen her words for what they were.

……………………………………………

Poor Riku! I know this chappie is short, but….oh well….be happy for the fast updates! And make sure to review!


	10. Chapter 10: The Cunning Disguise

**Chapter 10: The Cunning Disguise**

A hidden stone door embedded in the wall slid open and one of the cloaked men who had kidnapped Skye stepped out, this time with his hood pulled back. He had grey eyes and a shag of blonde hair. He didn't look much older than 18. Skye, left alone in the stone room after Riku had gone, glared at him.

"Dax had better be happy with this, Rio." She said, defiant of her tears. He nodded.

"Don't worry, he is. You don't look so happy though." He said, as if enjoying her pain. She narrowed her eyes, fighting the urge to sob.

"Did you expect me to be?" She asked, her voice sharp. He took her arm and led her out of the room and into the hallway full of cells. The guard was returning to shut the door. Skye's eyes dropped to the floor again.

"…Is he gone?" She asked. The guard paused, looking at Rio, and then nodded. Skye let out a long breath. "Good." The guard scurried past and Rio tugged on her arm.

"Now, I believe I have my first request of you." He said, grinning maliciously. His eyes raked down her body and she felt naked even though her clothing covered her entirely. Her breath caught.

"No!" She cried, knowing what he wanted. His grip on her upper arm tightened and he glowered at her.

"You said you'd do anything…" He said dangerously. She pulled away from him.

"You _know_ this isn't what I meant! Dax said you can't hurt me!" She said desperately. He caught her arm.

"Then let this be a lesson to you to say what you mean." He muttered darkly, grabbing her roughing and pushing her through on of the heavy wooden doors. It was her own cell, admittedly more comfortable than Riku's, but her prison nonetheless. Rio stepped into the room and Skye back up against the wall. "Besides, it won't hurt if you stop resisting." He said cruelly, shutting the door with a soft snap behind him. She narrowed her eyes at him as he walked towards her.

"Touch me and I'll kill you." She threatened angrily. He laughed.

"Then let's see what you can do." He answered, grabbing both of her shoulders. She let out a growl and kicked him in the groin. He howled in pain, collapsing to his knees. She kneed him in the head to knock him out and shut him up, which apparently worked out very well. He fell flat on floor and she ran for the door. It was locked. She glanced around, afraid of what would happen when Rio came to. Then she realized that he had to have keys, so she searched him, and found what she was looking for. The door swung easily open, and she pocketed the keys, thinking that they might later come in handy. She stepped out onto the metal walkway and looked both ways. The guard was standing at the door and he glared at her suspiciously. She gulped and walked the other way, trying to look confident and innocent. The next wooden door was open slightly, and she peered into it. The room looked like her own: a small bed, a table and a toilet. There was one difference though: there was a window on the opposite wall. She slipped into the room and shut the door. She scrambled through the window, dropping rather gracefully to the ground a few feet below. Night had just fallen, and she was very grateful for the cover of dark. Her eyes scanned her surroundings. There was a cliff in front of her, which dropped off into the water. She knew that the ships were docked in a small cove below, accessible by a set of stone stairs. To her left were a set of buildings which looked like barracks. To her right was the road that led from the imposing stone fortress into a wooded area. _All roads lead to somewhere, and chances are, that's where I'll find him._ She thought grimly, peering around for any sign of life. There were patrols, she knew, but there was no sign of them. Taking the chance, she ran across the clearing between the Fortress and the woods.

A few minutes later, back inside the Fortress, Dax burst into the room where Rio lay prone, the guard that had been assigned to Skye, the same one who had seen her escape, cowering behind him. Dax, the leader of the group who had kidnapped Skye, spun around, blue eyes burning holes through the guard.

"You just _let_ her escape?" He bellowed. Below, Riku, who had listened to the entire exchange between Rio and Skye, sat up. _She gone!_ He asked silently, growing anxious. Those footsteps then, they were hers, not Rio's, and the cries of pain were his, not Skye's.

"It never occurred to me that lord Rio had lost control of the situation…" The guard stuttered, trying to explain himself.

"I DON'T CARE!" Dax shouted furiously. There was a long silence, and Riku sat as quietly as he could, listening intently. He leaned forward, waiting for the conversation to continue, and in the process, knocked the empty water jug off the cot. It fell with a clatter to the floor. Dax heard the sound and looked down, a smirk crossing his face. The guard looked afraid.

"M-m'lord?"

"Get me that boy." He said. "Bring him to the dungeon." He ordered, sweeping by the guard and walking away. Riku sat very still in his cell. _The dungeon?_ The guard appeared a moment later, once again fumbling with his keys. This time, however, he looked like he almost pitied Riku, which was most definitely a very bad sign.

_Crack!_

"Where…"

_Crack!_

"…is…"

_Crack!_

"…she!"

_Crack!_ Darkness was eating away at the corners of Riku's vision as he collapsed to his knees, or tried to. His wrists were shackled above his head, holding him on his feet. His back was covered in burning welts. Dax was standing in front of him, and there were two guards standing on either side and just behind him. Dax was holding a chain whip, which he cracked absently against the floor, in time with the crack of the guard's own whips against his back. Riku cringed.

"I already told you! I don't know!" He barked in reply. Dax rolled his eyes.

"And I've already told you that you do." He answered. _Crack, crack._ Riku groaned.

"How am I supposed to know where she is? I was in my cell the whole time! I didn't even know she'd left!" He answered desperately. "I don't know why she'd even want to leave, if this guys she loves so much is here." He said, his breath coming short. Dax paused.

"I see." He said, putting his whip down on a table. Riku relaxed visibly. Dax smirked.

"Every word that issues from the lovely Skye's mouth is the highest truth…" He said mockingly. Riku would have glared at him, but didn't have the strength. Dax turned on his heel and walked towards the door. "Let this _sickeningly_ gullible boy down. Clean out the welts and take him back to the cell." He ordered before disappearing through the doorway. The two guards bowed and stepped back out of Riku's field of vision for a moment. There was the sound of wood on wood, and then water. Then, scalding salt water was dumped over his back. He cried out in surprise and pain. Then next thing he knew, his hands were freed and he fell to the ground, his chaffed wrists throbbing. Sweat made his silver hair stick to his face. He couldn't remember being in so much pain before; not even when he was fighting Sora did he feel like he did now. _And all of this for a girl who doesn't love me anymore…_ was his last thought before he finally blacked out.

The next day, when Riku finally came to again, he found a guard standing at his cell door. This one was tall and lanky, with greasy brown hair.

"I been told to let ya know that yer to be hanged in two days time." He stated, trying to sound official. Riku sat up suddenly, ignoring the fact that it made the room spin.

"What? Why?" He asked desperately. The guard looked around.

"Te clear out some of these here cells. Dax says we're gettin' too full up." He answered. Riku got to his feet.

"But I'm the only one here!" He nearly shouted, getting angry. The guard shook his head.

"There're other prison wings. You and two thieves'll be getting a short drop and a quick stop at dawn. Have a good day, sir." The guard gave him a toothy, spiteful grin. Riku sat back down on his cot, head in his hands. He was going to die in 48 hours…and still, all he could think about is that he wasn't going to see Skye again.

The girl in question was sitting alone in a small tavern in a small port called only Cove Town. When she first arrived, she marveled at the lack of creativity of the people who named the town. She decided to stay at the little inn there, called the Headless Chameleon. Despite the unsavoury name, it was actually a very pleasant little inn, though Skye didn't take much happiness from it. There was a terrible feeling growing in the pit of her stomach. A few of the sailors said that the next nearest settlement was a good two days ride from Cove Town by horseback, and to make the journey on foot was a fool's errand. They also said that no one got on or off the ships without express permission from Lord Dax. So, she found herself wondering; _where is Riku?_ It had been two days since her escape, and the evening was rolling around. She knew already that he wasn't at the Chameleon, but where else could he be? There was no where else to stay. Skye sighed, and was about to head to her room when she overheard a few older men talking.

"They say one of the unlucky ones is brand new!"

"Oh, he must have been real trouble if they're getting rid of him that fast."

"I heard he's young, too."

"Really? Don't they usually get put to work?"

"That's why I said he must have been trouble." Skye stopped and took a seat at the bar. The men were a little ways away and so she couldn't hear their words anymore. Clara, the barkeeper, was washing glasses and smiled at her.

"Evening." She greeted. Skye tried to smile at her.

"Evening." She said, knowing her upset seeped into her voice. Clara tilted her head.

"You okay?" She asked kindly. Skye shrugged.

"Did you hear anything about any executions at the Fortress or anything?" She asked, trying to sound casual.

"I did. Three men tomorrow morning. You going to watch?" Clara asked. Skye was momentarily revolted at the idea, but hid it fairly well.

"Maybe." She answered after a moment. Clara nodded.

"Everyone's going, or so I hear. It's because one of the men being executed doesn't have any crimes against him, they say. Everyone wants to know who he is that he's done something so bad that Lord Dax won't tell us what crime he committed." She said, sounding interested. The sinking feeling in Skye's stomach got worse. Just then, a man sitting a little ways down at the bar leaned towards them.

"I hear he's a demon!" He announced. He was dressed in ragged clothes and had a lazy eye. Clara rolled her eyes.

"That's Hykee, he's half crazy." She murmured. Skye nodded and Hykee continued.

"I heard he was a terrible demon! With strange powers too! No one's ever seen him before, and there's rumor he came from another world!" He shouted. Skye paled. Hykee didn't notice. "The silver haired demon boy!" He cried. Skye's eyes went wide. _No…_she thought desperately. She looked like she was going to be sick. Clara looked worried.

"Are you alright?" She asked. Skye nodded.

"Drank too much." She said, before hurrying off to her room. Clara blinked. It wasn't her place to ask questions, so there would be no questions asked, but she knew that Skye hadn't been drinking anything except for water all evening.

About an hour later, Skye was standing in the street. No one else was about, as it was quite late. She knew exactly what was going on. The rumors of Riku were being circulated purposely. They wanted her to show up in the morning and give herself up to save him. And she would play right into their hands, only they wouldn't know it. She stood in front of a clothing shop, with a pin in hand. _Stealing is wrong…but it's not stealing if I pay them back later, right? _She thought carefully, before pushing the pin into the lock and wiggling it around until there was a faint click. The door swung open and she smiled. Her adrenaline pumped through her, making her nearly tremble. Her plan was in motion.

Dawn rolled around much too fast for Riku's liking. He spent the night trying to come to terms with what was going to happen. The lanky guard showed up at his cell just before daybreak and bound his hands behind his back with thick rope before leading him down the hall. The front door of the Fortress opened into an enclosed courtyard, where a mass of people were standing and waiting. Two other men were already outside. They were led up onto a wooden platform, where the infamous noose hung. Dax appeared a few moments later.

"Now, before we begin, is there any evidence of these men's innocence yet unconsidered?" He asked the crowd. It was merely a formality; no one ever said anything. He paused for a moment and was about to speak again when a voice rang out.

"I have!" Heads turned from every direction to about the center of the crowd, which parted to allow the speaker through. Dax crossed his arms, looking unimpressed. It was a cabin boy from some merchant ship, no older than 14. He wore loose fitting clothes and a wide three cornered hat. Dax narrowed his eyes at the boy.

"What evidence?" He asked, sounding bored. He was still angry that Skye had yet to show up. The boy grinned sheepishly, the expression barely visible under the hat. In fact, most of the face was hidden.

"It's not actually evidence, m'lord…but I have a…uh…proposition." He stated slowly.

"What proposition is that?" Dax asked, now looking amused and curious. The boy pulled out a small bag and shook it. There were coins inside.

"I was wondering how much it would cost for you to free those three men and allow them to join the Javelin's crew." He answered. The Javelin was a sailing ship that came and went extremely often from Cove Town. Dax sighed.

"How much are you offering?"

"I'd say that the three of 'em would be worth…3000 coins" There was a hush over the crowd. That was a lot of money. Dax paused.

"1500 for these two." He said, pointing to the thieves. Riku was too valuable in returning Skye to give him up. The cabin boy shook his head.

"4000 for all of them. I want all of them." He answered firmly. There was another hush. The silence stayed for a long while. The cabin boy crossed his arms. "Deal or no deal." There was another pause. Dax was infamous for living in luxury, and 4000 coins was not an amount to be passed up easily. However, he maintained that he needed Skye, and therefore Riku, and no amount of money could replace the blood sacrifice.

"No deal." He said bluntly. With that he spun around and motioned to the guard standing behind Riku. He pushed the teen forward, towards the noose. He gulped. The cabin boy looked unimpressed.

"5000." He said. Dax shook his head.

"I said no deal." He replied. The noose was fitting around Riku's head, and he shut his aqua eyes. The boards beneath his feet dropped out from under him, but even before the rope ran out, there was a whistling sound and then the swish of metal cutting through cloth. The cabin boy had thrown a small knife as Riku dropped, cutting the rope and letting him fall mostly unharmed to the ground. Riku hit the ground with a thud, on his feet, and stumbled forward, trying to keep his balance. The cabin boy caught him and Riku flushed, the contact making him suddenly aware of the body that this boy possessed: _He has breasts!_ was the first thought to rush through his head. But, as he righted himself, he realized that it didn't make any sense, and so the cabin boy must be, in reality, a cabin girl. The clothes she had on were loose enough to hide her body shape. Meanwhile, Dax was looking back and forth from the cabin girl to the small knife embedded in the wooden post that held up the noose. He'd only ever seen a knife thrown like that once before. He feigned a smile.

"I'm impressed." He stated, jumping down to ground level next to Riku. The girl had a knife up both her sleeves, apparently, because the rope that bound Riku's hands together was cut, followed by a murmured instruction to act as if he was still bound unless he absolutely had to do otherwise. Meanwhile, Dax approached them, still trying to look nice. "Shall we discuss prices?" He asked, tilting his head.

"I thought you said no deal." The girl answered cuttingly. Dax shrugged, still moving towards them. He and the girl were an arm's length apart now. With a flurry of movement, Dax knocked the hat off the girl's head and her identity became very apparent. He drew his sword, pointing it at Skye.

"I'm not the only one to go back on my word. You broke your promise." He said. Skye glared at him.

"You never kept your end of the bargain in the first place!" She answered furiously. She still held her knife, but it was no use against a full sword, not to mention the endless number of guards that would follow if she attacked. Riku looked from Skye to Dax and back again.

"You said you wanted me executed, so do it, but leave her out of it!" He demanded, stepping between them. Skye's eyes went wide. _SHIT! He's going to get himself killed!_ She thought desperately. She threw the knife, and it caught Dax's sword arm. He froze, surprised and in pain. She grabbed Riku's arm and dragged him rather forcefully behind her as she ran towards the doors of the Fortress.

"AFTER THEM!" A furious roar rang out behind them.

"Run!" Skye cried, racing inside. They took endless twists and turns, getting themselves totally lost, until they burst into the hallway where Riku's cell had been.

"Great." He muttered. She paused, getting an idea. She grabbed his wrist and pulled him along behind her as she ran up the stairs towards the room she'd escaped through last time. She pulled the door shut behind them and turned on him.

"And just what was that you pulled?" She asked angrily. He blinked, confused.

"What?"

"You could have gotten yourself killed! Dax needs me alive so he wouldn't have done anything to me yet, but you, he would have killed out without a second thought!" She shouted, pacing. He caught her arm, making her stand still.

"I did it because whether or not you feel the same, I still love you. Love makes you do crazy things." He said. She lowered her eyes and there was a long silence.

"Crazy things like making a deal with Dax that I'll do whatever he tells me to in exchange for him letting you go." She said bluntly. Riku's eyes went wide.

"You did what?"

"When I found out he had you captive, I told him I'd do whatever he asked me to if he let you go. He agreed on the condition that I tell you I loved someone else so that you wouldn't come back for me." She looked up at him. "I lied. All of it was false. I still don't remember. There never has been anyone else." She said before her gaze hardened. "And he lied too. He never had any intention of letting you go free." She added angrily. Riku looked speechless, but a loud slam from somewhere in the hallway drew their attention.

"What was that?" He asked. She glanced around.

"Guards probably. And to make matters worse…" She pointed at the window. It was barred. "Looks like they blocked the escape route. You run. I'll keep them distracted until you escape."

"What? No!" Riku argued. She shook her head.

"There's no way we'll both be able to escape now, and if we try, we'll both be captured. You can't help me if you're captured too! Hurry!" She opened the door slightly. A group of guards was standing at the doorway, and it looked like there commander was giving them instructions for the search. She motioned for him to go, but he tilted her face up to his and kissed her gently.

"To tide me over until I'm allowed to see you again." He whispered. Her hard expression melted into a smile, and he stepped out into the hallway. One of the guards caught sight of him and ran after him, shouting. Skye stumbled out of the room a moment later and ran across the pathways bridging the cell-lined hallway below. All attentions were transferred to her and they chased after her, forgetting completely about Riku. It took them only moments to trap her on the bridge. She looked over her shoulder on time to see Riku disappear around a corner. _Hurry, I'm going to need every little bit of help I can get once this all explodes in my face _she thought. She knew Dax would find some way to turn the tables on her. She just hoped that she could be gone before he could figure that part of the plan out. There were ten guards completely surrounding her.

"Don't try to escape now." One of them warned. She looked at him incredulously.

"Did you honestly think I'd try to run when the odds are against me ten to one?" She asked, arms crossed. The guard who'd spoken muttered something foul and ordered the others to bind her arms and take her to Dax.

A day or so had passed since Riku's escape, and the conversation between Dax and Skye that had followed was most unpleasant. Skye found out that while she was gone, Dax had ordered his scholars to find anything at all that would help convince Skye to do as they said. And not only that, but they actually managed to find something too. He'd refused to speak any more of it. It was mid afternoon and the sun was hidden by clouds. Skye was standing on the top of the highest tower of the Fortress next to a pyre soaked in the foul smelling oil that had caught on the wind on her last night on the Islands, and wearing a dress very similar to the one she'd been wearing when she'd first arrived. She hadn't thought of the Islands much since her kidnapping, and the memory rather made her want to cry. Dax's appearance pulled her abruptly from her reverie.

"I'll give you the same choice I gave you last time." He said, inspecting the knife he was holding. "You can do this the easy way and do what I tell you to, or you can do this the hard way."

"I think you know the answer already." She answered coldly. Dax looked at her.

"Fine. In order to cleanse you of the impurities that come with you being unwilling, you will be burned at the stake. Alright with you?" He asked mockingly. She glared at him.

"Exactly what is this sacrifice for?" She asked in reply. "If I'm to sacrifice myself, I need to know what it's for." She explained. Of course, she had no intention of doing anything he told her to, she was just stalling for time until she figured out what she could do next. Dax looked almost pleased.

"Why, for our father of course."

"Our?" She asked, obviously not believing him.

"Indeed. I need his blood to revive him, which is flowing through your veins. Now all I need is to kill you for it." He answered, tossing her the knife.

"Fine, if we really are siblings, what's my father's name?" She asked, catching the knife. She acted as if it was some test to prove his honesty, but of course she actually had no idea. What she really wanted was to know what kind of man would be important enough to Dax for him to go to this much trouble to revive him. Dax smirked.

"Of course you wouldn't know. I'm not surprised that Mother never had the heart to tell you who he was. From what I've heard of her, she was a weak woman. No backbone at all." He said, sounding disgusted. "But if you really must know your hertitage, your mother was a whore and your father was Ansem." Her eyes narrowed. She tossed the knife into the air and then whipped it back at him. Her mind was reeling. _Ansem? He's lying, right?_ Dax barely sidestepped the attack and it soared off the edge of the tower, falling to the ground below. He frowned. "Alright then, we do it the hard way." He signaled to the guards, and two of them grabbed her by the arms and dragged her to the pyre, tying her wrists together behind the stake.

"You're oil smells terrible. The least you could do if give me the honour of a death that doesn't smell like rotting logs." She said, her voice cutting. She sounded cool and collected. Inside, she was confused and terrified, but there was no way she was going to allow Dax the pleasure of seeing her true feelings. Dax smiled cruelly, nodding to one of the guards.

"I thought you might say that." He told her. Then, without warning, some oily liquid was poured over her head. "I took the liberty of bringing you perfume."

"V-very flammable." Skye answered with a noticeable stutter. Dax nodded and signaled to the same two guards that had tied her to the pyre. They struck a pair of matches and dropped them on the wood at her feet. Flames burst up and spread quickly. There was a ring all the way around her within moments, and it was creeping slowly towards her. She gulped. Dax crossed his arms.

"Getting warm?" He asked cruelly. She shot a glare at him and the ring of fire around her flared up. It made her jump. He started laughing, but she didn't hear it. All she could hear was the crackling. It was making her inexplicably tired, and it was kind of giving her a headache. It crept closer to her still, and she began to hear whispers. She couldn't understand them, but among the crackle of the flames, it was still there. She became vaguely aware that the bottom of her white dress was singed and black, but she still wasn't feeling any heat. The fire was all around her now, licking at her feet and calves, but it wasn't burning. It felt like strips of silk floating around her legs. The fire rose up behind her, and her attention was pulled back into reality when she heard a desperate shout.

"Skye!" Riku had arrived, and was followed by three others that she vaguely recognized, but from where she didn't know. The whispers were growing distractingly loud, and she felt like she was going to fall asleep standing up. Meanwhile, Riku was desperately searching for a way to get her out of the flames before it was too late, if it wasn't already. She found herself yawning, and then the fire caught the rope binding her wrists, burning it to a crisp in a matter of moments. The support lost, she stumbled forward and out of the flames, struggling to stay awake. The three who had followed Riku, two men and a woman, killed the two guards ruthlessly and Dax was gone before anyone got the chance to see where he had disappeared to. Riku caught Skye, worried, but also amazed that she was unscathed. She snuggled against him, almost delirious with exhaustion.

"I'm tired…" She murmured. His arms tightened around her.

"It's okay, you can go to sleep now. You're safe." He whispered into her hair. An instant later, the whispering, crackling fire had lulled her into the deepest dream she'd ever in her life experienced.

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Hurray! Long chappie! And the next chappie's working title is Life of Skye…haha let's all laugh at my brilliant play on words…Get it? Pi, Skye, they rhyme… okay I'm going to shut up now and you are all going to review now, m'kay?


	11. Chapter 11: Life of Skye

Okay so apparently no body got my little play on words, as nobody knows what Life of Pi is, but it's a bestselling book about some kid named Picine who gets stuck on a boat with a tiger or something like that… I don't really know much about it, but it's pretty famous… Anyways! On to the story!

**Chapter 11: Life of Skye**

I supposed that had I been slightly more conscious at the time, I would have wondered why I wasn't burning to a crisp. As it happens, I'm what people on this planet call a Fire User. Anybody can use magic, like the way that Sora does, but on this planet, which is called Dawn's Oceans by the way, some people are born with an extraordinary power with a certain element. I was born with such power with fire, and so the flames didn't burn me as they would most others. So, now with that explained, I suppose that I should explain the rest of my life.

My earliest memories come from a time before I was born. That's impossible, I know, but my mother told me the stories of what happened all the time, starting even from before I could understand her words, so even though the images that I remember are imagined, they still feel like memories. My father came to Dawn's Oceans to look into some planetary disturbance or something, and met my mother. She always told me that he was the only man she'd ever truly loved, and I think that he must have been a wonderful man for her to say that about him. It didn't take long for them to fall in love, but he was royalty on another planet and so they couldn't be together. When he returned to his home planet, she came quietly with him as a seamstress looking for work in his city. I always pictured my father as some sort of Prince Charming, and his planet as some sort of perfect fairy tale castle, but if what Dax has said was true, then my father was Ansem and the planet that I was to be born on was Hollow Bastion. I think that's a horrible name for a planet, but on with my story: They met often in secret, my parents, and one day my mother became pregnant. She gave birth to a boy nine months later, and my father took him into the castle as an orphan. It hurt my mother that he refused to tell anyone that this boy was theirs, she said she never understood why he kept their love hidden. Around the birth of my brother, Dax, my father began to change. He stopped wanting to see my mother, and when he did, he hurt her, verbally mostly. About a year later, when she told him that she was pregnant again, he went into a fit of rage and threatened to kill her. She stopped seeing him after that. I was born, and my father found out about me when I was a week old from a woman in the court who had been to see my mother about mending a dress. My father was furious that I was alive, and he demanded that he have custody of me. My mother refused, saying that he's taken her son from her and he wouldn't take her daughter too. He went into another rage and my mother ran away, looking for a way to leave the planet. She returned to Dawn's Ocean when I was a month old, and she raised me on the southern island, Gova. The two of us led a fairly normal life, until my mother became sick when I was still only young. The healers said that she'd contracted something in Hollow Bastion and that it had remained dormant until I was six years old.

My mother died when I was ten. No one was there for her in her final moments. I was out in the market place buying food for dinner, and when I came back, she wasn't breathing anymore. I spent the afternoon crying over it, until I realized that I was an orphan and if anyone found me, I'd most certainly be sent to live with my father. That was the last thing I wanted, so I took all the money I could find, a change of clothes and a little bit of food and I set out. I went to the port city, to the same market I'd been browsing that morning. I thought I was a woman, and I thought I'd be able to get work. I was ten, and I was very wrong. I remember my first night, because it was the first time I met 'the crew'. They were a handful of kids, orphans like me, who worked together to steal enough food to survive. They said they'd help me learn the ways of street living, and in return, I used my money to buy them food when they couldn't get enough for themselves. I spent a month with them, at which time I ran out of money. After that, Raggi, the leader of the group, said that I wasn't a good enough thief to run with them and since I had no more money, I was of no further use to them, so the little group of five abandoned me while I slept. From that time on, I was alone. I ate enough to survive, but I usually went to bed hungry.

Six months into my life as a lone street kid, I met a boy named Torne. He was the same age as me. I was looking to steal from the baker, and he was eyeing some of the treats in the window when I arrived that morning. We agreed to help each other out; I'd distract the baker, and he'd snatch a loaf of bread and some pastries. It worked wonderfully: I did an amazing job at distracting them, enough so that Torne had time to rearrange the pastries on the sheet and the bread basket so that the baker didn't even realize that he'd been stolen from until he found out that he was short money that night. He was quick and quiet, and I had that cute little girl thing going for me, so all worked out well. I showed him all my hiding places, little nooks to disappear into when I was caught and had to run. He showed me the alley that he made his home: always shielded from the wind, and even covered. While it seems like we might have got along well, we didn't. We argued constantly and spoke to each other only when we had too. But despite all that, we never went hungry when we worked together. I worked with Torne for a year and a half, in which time we became the veritable king and queen of thieves in the city. We made regular habit of taking more food than we needed, because we always had one of the younger orphans come to us at night looking for extra food. Generosity was the only thing Torne and I ever agreed on. We'd give the food to them, and in exchange, they owed us a favour, which usually ended up amounting to them helping us in one of our grander schemes; things like stealing clothes or fabrics for clothes, or sometimes money. Even if I was a little homeless kid, I knew I had it good the way things were. They always could have been worse.

I had just turned twelve and Torne and I cooked up the idea that we could steal a spellbook and magic ourselves enough food to last forever. It didn't work that way, but how were we to know that? A Water Master and his apprentice were on a pilgrimage to the Nymph Shrine, and were on their way through town. We spent forever planning the 'heist', as we'd called it. The master was old and the apprentice was clumsy. We figured that it would be easy. A few younger kids burst into their camp, which was just outside town, yelling and screaming. Torne kept the poor apprentice busy, while I went after the book. I snatched it and was on my way out, signaling to the others to go, when I found myself in a box of water. I tried to run through it, but it froze instantly so I ran into a solid wall of ice. The old man was must stronger than he looked, and I heard his voice through the box, asking me what I wanted with the book. Torne confessed what we wanted. The apprentice starting laughing at him and calling him stupid for thinking of something so stupid as making food with magic. The master shut him up, the box melted into the ground and he took back the book, giving Torne a bag of food and a coin to each of the little ones before sending us off. Even if we didn't get what we wanted, we'd gotten ourselves enough food for what would have been a filling meal for most people, but a few days worth of food for us. The next night, the apprentice followed to the alley. I set a fire and Torne and me sat down to eat when he arrived and started yelling at us. Thinking back on it, he was probably bitter that we got him in trouble with his master, and he was probably embarrassed by that fact that Torne was so easily able to keep him at bay. He shouted for a while, before dousing our fire with a grand splash of water he called out of the air. Our wood was soaked and Torne started to shout back. They were going to get into a fight, so I told the water apprentice to go away and I told Torne that I'd just light the fire again. The apprentice laughed at me and said that it was impossible. It took nearly no effort for me to get it started at all. He and Torne both gaped at me, and before I knew what was happening, the apprentice was dragging me back to his master, despite my loud protests, muttering the whole while about how it was a crime that a fire user be allowed to live in poverty. Torne followed us with the intention of helping me. I don't think he ever would have admitted that he cared about what was going to happen to me, but he did. After spending more than a year together, we developed a sort of demented brother/sister affection for each other, even if we did think that we hated each other. The apprentice told his master what happened with the fire, and the master said that I should go with them to the Nymph Shrine. The Shrine was essentially the headquarters of all the elemental monasteries all over the planet. They were sailing there from the port. It was on a volcanic island exactly in between the two islands, Gova in the south and Hadrian in the north. Hadrian is the Island which the Fortress sits on the southmost point of. I was totally awestruck and still didn't quite get why they wanted me to go, but I shouted at Torne to come out anyways, which he did. Apparently both master and apprentice were startled by his presence, but I ignored that and told them that I couldn't go because me and Torne needed each other to survive and one without the other meant going to bed hungry at night. The master nodded and gave Torne an amount of money that neither of us had seen in our lived before and told him to find another partner in crime, but that the money was to help him survive until he did so. So I was going with the water users and Torne was rich among thieves. Things work out sometimes I guess.

I arrived at the Shrine and was tested for my magic, which I apparently had an abundance of. I was to stay at the Shrine for eight years, until I was finished my training, but that it might take longer, which it often did. My teachers were a forty-something year old man named Tyke and his wife Arda. I spent six months with them teaching me, and I began to think that these were just like grade 1 teachers or something, because by the end of the first six months they'd run out of things to teach me. One morning, I was on my way to lessons and I heard Tyke and Arda talking to one of the grand masters. They were saying that I was too strong and that it was dangerous. They said that I had mastered things in a matter of days that it should take months to be able to perform satisfactorily. The grand master didn't seem worried though. He said that maybe I'd one day end up becoming a grand master myself and then left it at that.

Six months later, the Slave War broke out. Hadrian Island condoned slavery and Gova abhorred it. The war broke out with the accusations that slave traders from Hadrian were kidnapping citizens of Gova, most of them orphans. I was furious at the news and asked if I could join Gova's war effort. The element users had always been and will always remain neutral in disputes among countries, and so I wasn't allowed to go. It didn't matter much to me, since a few days later I was to finish my training and be named a master. I waited those days and immediately after the ceremony, I announced that I was leaving the Shrine and by that night I was on a boat on my way back to the same port city that I had come from. I arrived there and everything looked exactly as I remembered it, though a bit smaller, but that's what happens when you grow a good six inches while you're gone. I tried to join with Gova's army, but I was rejected because I was only thirteen and I was female. As I was leaving, a woman that I had seen a few times before at the Shrine walked in and asked to join. She was refused, as she was apparently too old, though from what I could see she still must have been under forty, and she was female. I stayed long enough to see what they said to her and then walked out, muttering curses against the sexist pigs. She came out behind me and started laughing, asking me why I hadn't been taught a proper apprentice's manners. I told her that it was because I'd never been an apprentice. We talked together for a while; I told her about my short experience at the Shrine and my uncommonly fast training. She told me about her time at the healer's monasteries, traveling all over the world. The two of use became fast friends, and she was like some kindly aunt I'd never met before.

It can't have been two months after that when the healer, Jade, and I met Lodi. I was down by the docks and he saw me complaining loudly about how it was so unfair that the army wouldn't let women fight. He approached me and said that he was the captain of the mercenary ship that routinely raided the slavers' ships. He was searching for a lookout, and said that an old saying around sailors said that those with green eyes had the sharpest sight, and that he would like to bring me aboard. It would give me a stab at the slavers and I wouldn't have to worry about the strict rules of the army. I agreed on the condition that Jade could come too. He didn't have any problem with it, seeing as how she was a healer and I think he rather felt love at first sight for her. Apparently the feeling was mutual, because they were married a year later. Anyways, Lodi had a patchwork crew of 'miscreants', as he called them, and they sailed after slave ships, saved the slaves and took whatever valuables they happened to find on board. The Slave War wasn't going anywhere, as the two armies were evenly matched and the slavers where bringing in as many slaves as the mercenary ships were saving.

I stayed with Lodi and Jade for a long time, sailing the world's two oceans, which were separated by a ring of volcanoes, on one of which rested the Nymph Shrine, called the Crown of the World. Members of the crew came and went, but with Lodi being the captain, Jade being the ship's sole healer and Lodi's wife, and me with my abilities in fire, which made sinking ships a snap, the three of us always stayed together. I made a good lookout, so I was sitting in the crow's nest early one morning, I was 15 at the time, when I saw a line on the horizon. I'll never forget it, as I don't think I've ever seen anything so strange in my life before. A black line had formed on the horizon, running in both directions, and wavering. The only reason I saw it was because of it's sharp contrast against the rising sun. I tried to figure out what it was, looking through my telescope at it. At that distance, even with my 'scope it only looked like a funny bunch of dots. It never even crossed my mind that the dots could have been ships, as I'd never seen that many ships in my life before. As it happened, that's what they were. I told Lodi and we booted it out of there as fast as the ship could possibly take us. No one wanted to deal with the hundreds upon hundreds of ships coming over the horizon. It was Dax. Now that I think about it, Ansem probably sent him to over run the world with Heartless and drag me back to Hollow Bastion to 'daddy dearest'.

Dax took over the entirety of Dawn's Oceans in a matter of months. He allied himself with Hadrian and won them the Slave War before invading Gova itself and sweeping what was left of the Govan army completely out of existence. Lodi's ship was taken, though it took three of Dax's ships to do it. The three of us barely managed to escape and decided we'd start a resistance against Lord Dax, as he was called now. For a while, we lived off of my skills as a thief, and made some 'friends' who'd help our cause. We were in the marketplace, the very same market that I'd lived in when I was younger, and a slaver was trying to take a little orphan. The owner of the store was helping him; apparently the orphan had stolen something. Before I got the chance to do anything to help, someone, an older orphan from the looks of him, else appeared out of the crowd that was forming and started an argument with the slaver and store owner. Then, he tried to make his escape, but was blocked by a few of the slaver's crew, who were standing in the crowd. I played my own part then, setting fire to a few choice pieces of clothing and giving the orphan and his defender an escape route. Once we were safely away, Lodi offered to let the older orphan join up with our fledgling resistance. He refused, saying that there was only one person who was good enough to run with him, and that she was gone. Jade made a comment about it being romantic and he laughed, saying that he and this girl hated each other. That was when I realized that the older orphan was Torne, though he said he was going by Ace these days. Apparently me being a part of the resistance made him change his mind, and he agreed to join us. We argued just like we used to, and I think that Lodi and Jade would have kicked one of us out of the group had it not been for the fact that we could take on any enemy together. Shortly after, we made our first attack on one of Dax's strongholds on Gova's coast. It went over well, but we were hunted for months afterwards, until news reached us that Dax had kidnapped a group of Earth Users and killed them all when they refused to join his cause. A pair of apprenticed Earth Users told us this; they had managed to escape the kidnapping because they'd been separated from the group when it happened. The pair, twins two years older than me named Soren and Avani, decided that they'd join us. They showed us to a mountain that was a part of the Crown of the World, with the village at its base being where they grew up. The caves in the mountain's base gave us a good place to stay and hide and plan. The twins could use their power to close the opening to the cave and join some of the other caves together, while I used my powers to light the caves. We named it the Rebel City. From thereafter, anyone who was in trouble for questioning Dax's right to rule, or who wanted to join our resistance, could stay there. It was easy for Soren and Avani to shape the inside of the mountain as they saw fit, and soon we had a fully shaped fortress of our own. As more and more people joined, we found ourselves accumulating furniture built by the different craftsmen, clothes from seamstresses, weapons from blacksmiths, dishes from potters, and food from chefs. Within the year we had a fully functioning city inside the mountain, and no one but those who were deemed trustworthy even knew it was there. Of course, rumors began to float around about an underground city of rebels, but that didn't put us in any danger because no one knew where it was, outside of the people actually living there.

At the age of about 16 and a half, I heard news about a large band of orphan thieves who had joined together and were demanding that something be done to help street kids so that they wouldn't have to steal. Lodi, Jade, Ace, Soren, Avani and I went to investigate it, and soon found out that it was an elaborate ploy to kidnap me. How did we find out that's what they were up to? Well, they kidnapped me. And then proceeded to gloat about how brilliant their plan was. Dax had set it up so that he could have his sacrifice. He didn't tell me what it was all about back then, he just kept me in the Fortress and told me that I was being executed for crimes against the government. I thought they'd figured out that I was a rebel, but I was wrong. He knew I was his sister, he just chose not to tell me so. I spent a just less than a year there before Dax tried to have me hung, apparently not yet knowing that his sacrifice had to be willing in order for the plan to work. I managed to escape, though to this day I still can't figure out how. They tried to use a platform to hang me from on the same tower they tried to burn me at the stake on. I had my hands tied behind me, so when I escaped the noose, I kicked Dax off the edge of the tower. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure why Dax is still alive, since no one should have survived such a fall. I think maybe he may have used his power with water. Dax has a talent with water the same way I do with fire. The vast majority of the time, both (or all) siblings inherit elemental powers, and Dax and I were no exception. I'd seen him use his power with water before, so I knew that water was his element. Anyways, I headed down and out of the tower, meeting a couple of guards on the way, much to my dismay, which meant I had to get rid of them without the use of my hands. About halfway down the tower, I burnt the ropes binding my wrists, but the entire ordeal had weakened me enough already that any use of magic was a bad idea. Once I was out of the tower, I encountered a huge group of guards and really didn't have much choice other than the burn them to a crisp. I'd have never survived the attack otherwise, but it left me dizzy and without any magic left in me whatsoever. I managed to reach the cliff where I found myself caught between more of Dax's soldiers and the cliff's edge. I would have used fire as my escape, since any magic user can transport themselves amazing distances using their element, but I had no power left in me to call on the fire. Dax appeared a moment later and began to shout orders at his soldiers and foul things at me. I jumped off the cliff, hoping that maybe I was one of those rare cases where a magic user could transport themselves to another place using their sibling's magic. It has happened before, but it's a rare thing, and even if you can do it, you have no control over where you end up, because it isn't your element. It didn't matter much to me where I ended up, as long as I wasn't there anymore. I hit the water and felt it changing slowly, though because I was so weak already I felt my memories slipping away from me as I fell. That's when I ended up on the Destiny Islands.

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Wooooow that's actually a lot of writing! Mkay well make sure to review everybody! Oh, and just in case you were confused, this is from Skye's POV. Okay? Cool!


	12. Chapter 12: Phoenix Fire

**Chapter 12: Phoenix Fire**

Voices pulled Skye from her sleep. She gradually became aware that she was lying on a bed, covered in blankets. The rocking sensations told her that she was on a ship at sea. She tried to open her eyes and sit up, but her body didn't really want to listen to her.

"Everybody on deck!" Ace's voice came from somewhere to her right. Ace? Riku found Ace? Were Lodi and Jade and the twins with them? Jade's voice from somewhere in front of her answered part of her question.

"I need to stay until she's awake. She needs rest and medicine." She said.

"I can't leave her." Riku added firmly from somewhere above her. It was then that she became aware that she was lying with her head in his lap. Ace walked into the room; Skye could hear his footsteps approaching.

"It's bad enough that Jade's not coming, but she has a reason. You can't do anything for Skye here, you'd do more on deck making sure that those Heartless don't reach her!" He answered angrily.

"Heartless?" Riku asked, surprised. Skye knew Dax controlled Heartless, but what she didn't understand is why he was using them so sparingly. Why hadn't he just used them to make sure she hadn't escaped in the first place? Riku hesitated, and then moved Skye so that her head rested on a pillow, and followed Ace out. Jade paced.

"They sound like they really need help…" She said softly. Skye stirred, finally able to will her body into movement. Jade's attention turned to her. "Oh! You're awake! Good. You need rest. Here, take this medicine, I need to go up and help out as much as I can."

"Well then I'm coming too." Skye stated, downing the cup full of some mysterious syrup with a grimace. Jade pushed her gently back down onto the bed.

"No, you need rest! Stay here and sleep."

"But I'm fine!" Skye insisted, but it was too late. Jade was already gone. Skye pouted and stood up. "Just because you tell me no, don't think I won't anyways." She stated, knowing that she'd get no argument in return. "Besides," she said to herself, looking down and deciding that she need something other than a singed-to-the-point-of-falling-off-her-body white dress, "the only reason I passed out was because I was regaining my memories and I couldn't make any new ones while I was sorting them out." She stopped talking, realizing that she was talking to herself. She looked around. This wasn't a ship she recognized. She'd been sleeping on a canopied bed that sat in the middle of the left-hand wall. The door was behind her. There was a long table in front of her, with a window that covered most of the wall beyond that; this was the captain's quarters, as it was at the back of the ship. Judging from the lighting outside, night had just fallen. To her right, there were a few shelves and a closet. She rummaged hurriedly through the closet, impatient to join the fight on deck. She could hear the dull thudding and shouts above her. She pulled on a large white shirt, a pair of pants, a bandana to keep her hair out of her face, and a belt to keep her too-big pants up. And plus the belt had a pair of daggers attached. Satisfied, she ran out the door and emerged into a hallway. There was a staircase at the far end of the hall, which she ran towards. The sounds of battle grew louder as she approached, and then suddenly stopped. She reached the top of the stairs and looked out onto the deck, confused. There was a group of twelve Heartless scattered across the deck, three for each crew member: Ace, Jade, Lodi and Riku. They were all staring out into the ocean, ally and enemy alike. Skye had to wait for her eyes to adjust to see what they were all staring at. The three Shadow Heartless sunk into the wooden deck before disappearing. The other Heartless, all aquatic types, suddenly made for the handrails that ran around outside of the deck, and dove over them and into the water. Skye looked back up towards where the four people were staring. She could see it now. A massive tidal wave, bigger than any she had seen before was sweeping towards them. It was tall, but it wasn't very wide, in fact, it was only about twice the width of the ship, and it was on a crash course straight for them. Lodi was the first to regain his senses. He was a relatively tall man, taller than Riku by about two inches, with a bald head and a white beard.

"Get those sails up and tie down anything and everything you can, including yourself! Let's go, this is gonna be nasty!" He shouted. Jade took a few steps forward, scrutinizing the wave. She was a round lady, wearing the white habit of a healer and the gold embroidery on her sleeves showed that she was a master, with long brown hair streaked silvery grey.

"It's magic, and not very good either. Whoever's conjured this is using brute magical force to force this wave on us, and they aren't going to stop until this ship's at the bottom of the sea! We have to get out of here!" She said, looking at Lodi.

"Dax!" Riku and Ace said at the same time. They were all at a loss for what to do. They couldn't outrun it, it was moving much too fast, and they couldn't survive it… then, a small fire the size of a candle flame appeared in mid air between the ship and the wave. It spread horizontally first, making a wavering string-like blaze, and then grew vertically, forming a wall shaped exactly to the wave. Heat and light flowed from it, making everyone shield their eyes. Lodi twisted around to look at Skye.

"Phoenix! You're awake!" The wave crashed into it with resounding force, and with a little hissing and a lot of steam, the wave disappeared, though it took the fire wall with it. Jade wheeled around, glaring at Skye as she triumphantly stepped through the door, balancing a blue flame on her fingertip.

"I thought I told you to rest!" She scolding. Skye blew the flame out and put her hands on her hips.

"And where would we be if I'd listened?" She asked, sounding amused. Jade paused and simply glowered at her. Skye shrugged. "Besides, I don't need any more rest. It's not like I was sick or anything. I just needed to reorganize my memories." She said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. The rest of them blinked at her. Then Riku let out a sharp gasp.

"Wait, you remember!" He asked, walking over. She nodded, and then pointed.

"We talk later. Heartless." She said, her hands going to the daggers at her belt. More Heartless were climbing over the railing and onto the deck. She and Ace stepped forward, standing back to back.

"I hope you're not rusty, I'm not slowing down for you." He stated coldly, shaking his blonde hair out of his face. Skye scowled.

"Right. Make sure you can keep up." She answered. Riku took a step forward but Lodi put a hand on his arm.

"They might hate each other, but no enemy could stand up to those two." He said. The Heartless had encircled the pair and they all leapt into action at the same time. With a flash of metal, Ace and Skye stepped away from each other. Ace was holding a long rapier in each hand, while Skye wielded one of her daggers in her left hand, and her fire in her right. A pair of Heartless jumped her, and she knocked one off with her blade, sending the two pieces of it off in different directions, and throwing the other back with a flaming fist, setting fire to it and the three other Heartless that it landed on top of. Ace crossed his arms and cut down one with each hand before bringing the blades together and catching a third across the throat. One jumped at his back, seizing the opportunity. Skye seemed already to know that this would happen, and she spun, throwing fire at it. The only thing that hit Ace were the ashes. He spun, stabbing out beside her at one that had tried to take advantage of her turned back.

"Watch your fire." He said. She spun back around.

"I suppose you would have preferred me stab it and let the body fall on you." She growled back. They were standing back to back again, and dealing with four each. Ace brought them down in a flurry of blades. Skye threw both of her daggers into the Heartless directly in front of her, before burning the other two to a crisp. Meanwhile, one Heartless Shadow was left, and it tried to jump into the gap between them, where it could take both of them with their backs turned, but Riku stepped it and cut it out of mid air. Skye crossed her arms and surveyed the damage: the rail was broken in a few places, there were scratch marks in the deck and her daggers were stuck in a crate and the mast.

"Good thing Riku was here." She commented, shooting a smile at him. Ace glared at her.

"I didn't see you going after it either!" He stated. She returned his glare.

"I wasn't accusing you, but now that you mention it…"

"How about we don't fight and we do figure out what's happened to Phoenix since Dax captured her?" Lodi suggested, interrupting her. Riku looped his arm around Skye.

"Why does he keep calling you that?" He asked. Skye shrugged.

"We all have nicknames. I'm Phoenix, Lodi is Genesis, Jade is Nana, Torne is Ace, Soren is Mars and Avani is Venus. Lodi's and Jade's nicknames didn't really stick though…" She said thoughtfully. Then she looked up at him, her eyes demanding and explanation. "Wanna tell me exactly what happened? I was stuck in the Fortress and Dax was plotting to burn me alive while you were…" She said, motioning for him to continue where she left off. He paused.

"Tell me about what you remember!" He said instead. Jade looked from Riku to Skye to Riku to Skye and then smiled indulgently.

"I see a lot has happened while you were gone." She noted, her tone denoting that she wanted to hear everything. Skye grinned.

"Riku, I asked you first." She stated. He nodded.

"I left the castle and went down to the docks. Dax had just captured a ship, and the crew was being held below decks by a group of guards, but they left the ship to go hunting for you and me. When I got there, the crew was about to make their escape. I just barely made it aboard before they left. I wanted them to wait and come help me get you, but they said there was no way they were going back to the Fortress. I was kind of at a loss for what to do next, but once we were out of sight of the Fortress, the rest of the crew loosened up a little and they told me that there was a resistance group that might be willing to help. Night rolled around and we met another ship traveling the other way. They stopped us, and it turned out that it was these guys." He said, motioning to Lodi, Jade and Ace.

"We had heard rumors of you being at the Fortress, so we were coming to see what we could find out, and maybe rescue you." Lodi said. "Riku told us that you saved him, but you were being held at the castle until Dax could find a way to make you commit suicide, so he came aboard our ship and returned to the Fortress with us. Ace broke us in through a back door, as it were." He continued, his eyes twinkling. From the look on Ace's face, it meant that he performed some roguish feat that he was rather proud of.

"That's when we headed up the tower and found you." Riku said. "Jade told me about you being a part of the resistance, but that's all I know." He finished, hinting at her to tell him about her past. Ace spoke next.

"Hang on, we want to know what happened after you were captured!" He said. She told him about waiting for months in the dungeon, and then about Dax trying to hang her, and then about her daring escape and her using water to escape to the Islands.

"How come you used water? You're a Fire User." Lodi said, confused. Skye bit her lip.

"Dax is a Water User." She said slowly. They didn't know that he was her brother. She hadn't known until he told her. Her mother had never told her the names of her brother and father. The others looked rather confused at her explanation.

"Right, Dax is a Water User, but what does that have to do with you?" Ace demanded, his voice cutting as it always was with her. "He open the portal for you?" He asked sarcastically. Skye narrowed her eyes at him.

"Shut up and let me finish. See, you know I can use fire to transport myself. Well, Magic Users can always use their own element to transport themselves. Sometimes, a magic user can use another element to transport themselves, though if they do, they have no control over where they end up. That doesn't happen very often, and it only ever happens with water because fire, air and earth need to be manipulated before they can be used to transport." She paused. She was stalling. Jade blinked, confused. She was the only other one there who had learned at the Shrine, so she knew something of what Skye was talking about.

"Right, but that only ever happens between sibl…Oh! You…your mother…your brother…the orphan in the palace…but…Ansem!" She spoke gibberish to everyone else, her voice nearing a shout towards the end as she stare at Skye in surprise. Skye cringed. She hadn't expected them to make that connection. No one else followed what she'd said.

"What about Ansem?" Riku asked uncomfortably. Jade looked saddened.

"Is it true?" She asked quietly. Skye nodded.

"Dax is my brother." She said. Jade held her breath.

"And Ansem…?"

"Yes. He took Dax in as an orphan in the palace." Skye said slowly. Jade shook her head.

"You poor child. And you never knew…" She murmured consolingly. Ace scowled.

"Dax is your brother? And he was raised by Ansem!" He asked angrily. "That at least explains why Ansem would allow such a moron to be his apprentice." He stated, even though everyone knew that Dax really wasn't a moron. It did kind of make Ace feel better to say it though. Skye sighed, biting her lip. Riku looked lost.

"But why would Ansem take in an orphan? Unless it was for his power with water… but, with your fire, how come he didn't take you too?" He asked. Skye sighed.

"Because my mother wouldn't let him have me. And Dax wasn't an orphan. Ansem just said he was because…" She paused, clearing her throat. "Because he didn't want people to know that his prized pupil was his illegitimate son…I…I didn't know. Dax told me, just before you rescued me…" She looked up at Riku with pleading eyes. He knew more than anyone else how terrible a man Ansem had been, which meant that he had more of a right than anyone else to push her away in disgust, but at the same time, he was the last one she wanted to lose. There was a long silence and Skye couldn't decide if it meant that it was taking them a long time to make the connection between Dax being Ansem's son and her being Dax's brother, or whether they were shocked into silence. Ace spoke first, which made Skye cringe. She knew he was the one who would be most unforgiving about her heritage.

"You remember the first time we met?" He asked. Skye nodded slowly. He shrugged. "You were an orphan then, and you always will be in my eyes. I could care less what Dax has to say about it." With that, he turned on his heel and disappeared below decks. Skye stared as he disappeared. That was kind of weird… okay, maybe it wasn't. _Even if we did act like we hated each other, it's like I thought, we have some demented brother-sister thing going…_she decided. Then, she returned her attention to Riku. He, in turn, was watching Lodi for his reaction.

"Meh. You're a damn good lookout and it's not like you haven't proved your loyalty to us a million times over." The captain said offhandedly, waving his hand at her and walking over to the wheel, checking his compass and muttering. Jade went after him, smiling earnestly at Skye, who was once again looking to Riku. He saw the apprehension in her eyes and smiled slightly at her.

"I remember once I told a girl that I cared very much about that I gave into the darkness. I also seem to remember how readily forgave me for it, saying that it wasn't even an issue, while I was worried that she'd hate me forever for it." He said quietly, smiling slightly as he tilted her chin up and kissed her gently. "I suppose it's only right for me to return the favour…"

-------------------------------------------

Riku and Skye were sitting on the bed in the captain's chambers. Apparently, the twins, Earth Users, had accompanied the group to the port when they went looking for Skye, and they beached a slave ship, forcing the crew to give the craft up to Lodi. They then accompanied the slaves back to the Rebel City, while Lodi, Jade and Ace went looking for Skye. That explained the riches on the ship. Riku was sitting at the head of the bed, leaning against the wall, while Skye sat on his lap, telling him everything about her life and where she came from. She left nothing out. When she was finished, he told her everything about him. She'd heard most of it in bits and pieces, but no one had ever told her the whole story from start to finish. Skye tilted her head to the side, resting her head on his shoulder and brushing her lips against his neck. His arms tightened around her, one hand playing with the top most button on her shirt. She smiled, and the door slammed open.

"He---Ugh! Get a room!" Ace cried, standing in the doorway. Skye scowled at him.

"We _are_ in a room, Einstein. _You_ were the one who burst in without knocking." She answered sharply. Ace opened his mouth to reply, and then closed it again, choosing instead to just glare at her before he finally managed to speak.

"I need the maps on the table." He said.

"Then go get them a leave up alone!" She commanded, obviously frustrated by his presence. Riku chuckled. Ace's cold gaze turned on him.

"Don't laugh at me." He said angrily, gathering up rolls of paper from the table. Riku shrugged.

"I'm not." He answered. Ace looked unimpressed and stomped out. Once he was gone, Riku looked back at Skye thoughtfully.

"I wonder why you ended up on the Destiny Islands...?" He asked after a moment. She smirked.

"Do you have to ask? I mean, they're called the _Destiny_ Islands…" She answered. Then a thought smacked her across the face. "OH!" She cried suddenly, tumbling out of Riku's arms and off the bed. She landed with a thump on the floor. He stared at her, wide eyed.

"What? What's wrong?" He asked urgently. She sat up, rubbing her head with a pout.

"Sora and Kairi! They must be SO worried about us! I mean, the last thing they saw was me being dragged away and then you coming after me…" She said. Riku looked concerned.

"But what can we do? I mean, how do we get back to the Islands?" He asked. She grinned.

"Same way I got there in the first place. Sort of. This time we'll take the fire. It's nice to know where we'll end up." She answered. He blinked.

"I'll get burned…" he said tentatively. She shook her head.

"Not if I tell it not to burn you. It takes a lot out of me to go such a long distance though, so we should wait until we get to the Rebel City. That way, when I get back, I have a safe place to rest." She said slowly, thinking the plan out as she spoke. Riku nodded.

"Sounds like a plan." At that moment, Lodi's voice rang down the hall.

"PHOENIX! I NEED MY LOOKOUT!" He shouted. Skye stood up and held out a hand to Riku.

"Come on, we can do crow's nest duty together." She said with a smile. Riku nodded in reply. They walked up to the deck, and Lodi looked at them.

"Alright, he can go with you, but don't get distracted." He warned. She saluted him and then walked up to the rail, climbing the rope ladder up to the top of the first sail. From there, she climbed up the mast to the second sail, and then swung herself into the crow's nest. Riku arrive a few minutes later, exhausted, speaking between pants.

"So…that's why…you're such…a monkey…"


	13. Chapter 13: Bittersweet Return

**Chapter 13: Bittersweet Return**

Skye, Riku, Lodi, Jade and Ace got off the ship in a small port on the northern side of Gova; the Rebel City was walking distance from the port. The mountain range towered above the port town. The group walked through the small town and along a dirt path that weaved through the tough bushes that could survive in the cracks between the rock at the base of the mountain. There were a few short hardy trees scattered along either side of the path. The mountain, called North Point, was covered in small openings to caves that disappeared into darkness within the mountain's core. They passed the first handful and then walked into one of the larger ones. There was a stake in the ground, and the remnants of a few campfires. It looked like a favored resting spot for travelers who didn't want to stay in town. It wasn't a very deep cave; you could see to the back just with the growing sunlight shining in from the horizon. There wasn't any Rebel City there. Riku leaned against the wall.

"So, I take it we'll rest here and then move on to the City later?" He asked, sounding unsure. Ace shot him a glare that said 'are you stupid?', while Skye grinned at him and walked up to the back wall, inspecting it carefully. He blinked, confused, and walked up behind her, trying to figure out what she was looking for. Her hand caught a small indent, and she traced a shape in the web of cracks in the rock that fanned out from the indent. She traced a small lock, one that no one would see if you didn't know it was there. Then she looked around, seemingly waiting for something that didn't come. Then, she let out a growl and kicked the stone wall, and apparently kicked it harder than she meant to because she fell back from it, swearing loudly and falling into Riku. He laughed helplessly. She pouted.

"Don't laugh. That hurt." She muttered. He wrapped an arm around her waist to keep her from falling.

"Maybe you shouldn't kick a mountain." He answered, amused.

"Well if Venus would hurry up and open the door…" She said loudly, as if someone other than their small group was supposed to here. And indeed, a moment later, a small portal opened in the wall and a girl with a sheepish expression stepped out.

"Sorry! I wasn't paying attention." She said, blushing. "Phoenix! You're okay!" She cried upon noticing the extra two people, pouncing on Skye. Once the pair of girls were finished giggling and hugging each other, the girl who had come through the portal, peered at Riku from under her bangs. She had long, light brown hair which was tied back into a pair of braids, and matching brown eyes. She was wearing a habit like Jade's, except that hers was green and she wore a black sash tied around her middle. She didn't say anything, so Riku introduced himself.

"Hi. I'm Riku."

"Pleased to meet you. Were you another prisoner at the Fortress?" She asked, trying to guess where he was from.

"Well, I was being held at the Fortress, but only because Dax wanted Skye to do what he said." He answered slowly. The girl looked confused. Riku just shrugged. "Long story." He said simply. She nodded, her expression telling them that she'd want to hear everything later.

"I'm Avani by the way, but everybody calls me Venus. Come on, we should go inside." She said, waving for them to follow her as she stepped through the doorway. They stepped into a stone passageway lit by mysterious glowing orbs of fire held inside little lanterns. The hall was empty but for the lanterns and a hooded figure just taller than Venus, wearing the same green cloak and black sash. He nodded to them as they walked by. Once they were out of earshot, Riku leaned over to Skye.

"Who was that?" He asked in a whisper.

"Mars. His real name is Soren, but that's what everyone calls him. He's Venus' twin brother. You'd never know it by the way they act though. She's hyper and a little bit air headed, and he's really mellow and philosophical." As she spoke, they passed out of the passageway and into the City. Riku couldn't help but gape; he'd never imagined anything like it before. The entire core of the mountain was hollowed out, creating a massive cone-shaped cavern. There was a wide spiral ramp that ran all the way around the outside, with balconies jutting out of it at even intervals. High above, a huge spherical flame is held at the peak with huge stone claws. The massive floor of the cavern, nearly a perfect circle with at least a mile radius, was covered in a lush garden, full of fruit bearing trees, many coloured flowers, berry bushes and vegetable patches scattered throughout. The huge ramp stared just to their right, and to their left, there was a set of four large archways. The two closest had doors, while the other two were left open, leading to a pair of tunnels that sloped gently downward into the ground. Venus led them to the first door as a pair of farmers with a cart full of produce emerged from the farthest tunnel. They approached the second door and opened it. Beyond both doors were areas that looked mostly the same: a wooden platform with chains attached to all four corners that hung down from shaft that ran up into darkness high above, and with all four sides roped off. The only difference was that the second platform was covered in crates, while the first was simply flat. One of the farmers caught sight of Skye and murmured something to his companion. Venus led them inside and unhooked one of the ropes, motioning for them to get on the platform. They obliged, and she smiled, replacing the rope.

"This is where I leave you guys. See you all this evening!" She waved and walked away, tugging on a small rope dangling in a corner as she went. The sound of a bell echoed down to them a moment later, and then with a jolt, the platform began to rise. Riku looked mildly surprised. Skye grinned smugly.

"Heat powered. We wouldn't want to let my sun go to waste." She said simply. He blinked.

"You made that thing?" He asked, surprised.

"Duh. Who else d'you think it might have been?" Ace asked coldly. Riku glared at him.

"I wasn't talking to you." He answered just as coldly. Skye rolled her eyes. The elevator lifted through a hole in the floor and when the platform was even with the floor, it stopped. Riku made to get out, but Skye caught his hand.

"We're only half way up yet." She said simply, leaning over the ropes and grabbing the thin rope that dangled a little distance away, tugging on it. Again, the little bell sounded from above, and again the elevator jolted and began to rise. They reached the top, a platform similar to the one below, and a very strange looking machine above them. This time the group stepped out of the elevator shaft and onto the wide platform. At the top level, the spiraling ramp flattened out and ran all the way around the outside. Directly across from the elevator was a huge set of wooden double doors, with smaller wooden doors placed at even intervals along the outside. They all started around the platform towards the double doors.

"Ace, you'll show Riku to the guest quarters. I need to speak with Skye." Lodi ordered. Ace nodded reluctantly. Skye shook her head.

"Riku can stay with me. I don't mind." She said, a grin creeping onto her lips. Jade smiled in reply.

"I'm sure you don't." She teased. Ace looked outraged, motioning stiffly for Riku to follow him. The two turned around and walked the other way around the ramp, toward Skye's room. The larger group disappeared through the double doors a moment later, and Ace shot an icy glare at Riku, who was taken aback. Ace led him silently to Skye's room, and opened the door slowly, stepping through and not waiting for Riku to follow.

"Bedroom. Bathroom. Living room. There's a pullout couch. Not that you'd care." He said, his voice like a growl. Riku hid his involuntary smile at the last comment. The rooms really were beautiful. Despite being carved out of living rock, the walls were all painted, and the floors all carpeted, so that it looked like he was living in any house on the Islands, rather than inside a mountain. The bedroom was surprisingly large, with a closet along one wall, a big canopied bed, a dresser and a small desk. There was a window on the wall opposite the closet. In the living room was a circle of a couch and three chairs, all looking wonderfully comfortable, with full length windows running along the back wall, opposite the door. The bedroom was to your right when you walked through the front door, and the bathroom was on the same side. One the left was a glass door that led out onto a balcony. The pair started to walk back out, but when they reach the door, instead of reaching for the doorknob, Ace spun around, grabbing Riku roughly by the shoulder and pushing him back against the wall. Riku started to resist, so Ace pressed his forearm against Riku's throat. Riku froze, his face red with anger. If looks could kill, Ace would have killed Riku on the spot.

"Hurt her and you won't live out the week. Got it?" He asked fiercely. Riku shoved him away.

"What makes you think I'd hurt her? I love her. I don't even know why you care, if you hate her so much." He replied cuttingly.

"I've known her for my whole life! You've known her for what, a couple of months? You don't have the right." Ace was on the verge of shouting.

"The right? The right to what?" Riku asked incredulously. Ace didn't answer; he'd already gone, slamming the door behind him. With a groan, Riku collapsed onto the couch, rubbing his temple with his hand and rolling the shoulder that had been slammed into the wall. _That's going to be bruised…_he thought angrily. What had he done to deserve that? He'd never done anything to illicit that, especially since that the first thing out of his mouth when he met Ace was 'help me find Skye!'. He sighed, running his fingers through his hair. Skye appeared at the door a few minutes later.

"Hi." She said quietly. He looked up. She looked like she'd been planning to say more, but whatever it was had been pushed aside by worry. "Are you okay?" She asked, walking cautiously into the room.

"I'm fine." He lied.

"You're a bad liar." She noted. He sighed.

"I think you've told me that before." He answered, sounding semi-amused. She smiled half-heartedly in reply. He took a deep breath. "So, what did Lodi want to talk to you about?"

"Oh, he just wanted to iron out the facts about what happened." She answered offhandedly. There was a long silence. "I saw Ace leaving." She said after a minute. Riku let out a long breath and he felt like he was deflating.

"I guess he doesn't like me too well." He answered vaguely. Skye sat down next to him.

"There's more to it than that. He's never gotten that mad so quickly, not even at me." She said, prodding him to continue. Riku sighed again.

"Don't worry about it. It's not a big deal." He said, wrapping one arm around her waist and kissing the crown of her head. She smiled slightly, pulling gently away from him and standing up.

"I'm going to have a bath." She stated, stepping into the bathroom. Then, with a coy grin, she added. "The tub is more than roomy enough for two…"

……………………………………………………

Skye emerged from the bedroom to find Riku stretched lazily out across the couch, wearing only jeans. He looked mildly surprised at her clothes, specifically her Magic User's habit.

"Where'd you get that?" He asked, waving a hand at her.

"Everyone else who uses magic gets a habit, why shouldn't I?"

"Because yours doesn't make you look like a monk." He answered bluntly. This was true. The other three did rather look like monks. Skye, on the other hand, had one that was more like a cloak, opening down the front to reveal her usual clothes. It was deep red, with bright orange and red embroidery on the sleeves and hem of flames, in addition to the gold embroidery on the sleeves like Jade had, that showed she was a master. She looked much more like a Rebel than they did, in any case. Skye tilted her head to one side, contemplating his words.

"Thanks…I think…" She said slowly. He grinned and stood up. She clapped her hands together. "So! Shall we pay a visit to Sora and Kairi?"

"I think we've left them in the dark far too long. It's about time we see how they've been fairing without us." He agreed. She crossed her arms.

"Go put some clothes on first." She ordered, grinning from ear to ear. He shrugged and wandered into the bedroom, searching for his shirt. When he returned, Skye was waiting for him with a six foot high flame in the middle of the room.

"We're going through that?" He asked uncertainly.

"Yep! Come on, it won't bit." She said, taking his hand. He was rather reluctant, but let her lead him anyways. Together they stepped through the fiery portal. It felt like he was stepping through a doorway, where the floors were uneven on either side and he hadn't been expecting the step down. There was a strange feeling of disorientation, which lasted much longer than it should have, but when he finally figured out which way was up again, he found himself standing outside Grandma Rose's in the dead of night. Skye was sitting on the front steps, looking worn. Riku looked worried.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine, but taking someone with me across the worlds is a tiring ordeal. Just needed a minute to catch my breath." She said, standing and smiling at him. Then, her expression saddened just a little, though she still wore her smile. She pulled him into a hug. "I'll miss you." She murmured.

"What?" He asked suddenly, looking her in the eyes.

"I said, I'll miss you." She repeated uncertainly. Understanding suddenly came to him.

"You're not leaving me here."

"I thought you understood that this was the plan!" She answered, sounding pained.

"You're not going back there alone!" He stated.

"I won't be alone. I'll have Lodi and Jade and Ace and…" Riku interrupted her.

"No! I'm coming with you!"

"Riku, this is my world, and I have to fight to protect it! You don't have to fight, and you're not going to get hurt any more because of me!"

"But you're my world and I have to fight to protect you!"

"I can take care of myself!"

"I didn't say you couldn't, but I want to help!"

"Riku! Don't make this any harder than it has to be!"

"I'm not making it any harder than it has to be, if you'd just let me come back with you, we wouldn't be having this argument!"

"But this is your world! This is where you belong!"

"You were the one who told me to go somewhere else! You were the one who said you'd travel the worlds with me! Now you want to lock me back up here?"

"Traveling the worlds didn't mean fighting Dax!"

"You don't have to face him alone!"

"I won't be!"

"How much help is a pirate, a thief and a healer going to be? I can help you, I've fought people like him before!"

"This isn't your fight!"

"Yes it is!"

"He took _me_ prisoner, he tried to sacrifice _me_, he was after _me_! This is _my_ fight!"

"He took me prisoner too! He tortured me to try to get me to tell him where you were!" Riku was nearly shouting now. He turned around and pulled his shirt off over his head, revealing the scars crisscrossing his back from the whips. She felt silent for a moment, and then spoke in barely a whisper.

"That's why you can't go back. I don't want him to hurt you again."

"Do you think I want to sit around helpless while he hurts you?"

"Of course not, but that doesn't mean…"

"Fine! I get it. Go back to your real family. This is why you didn't want to remember, but there's nothing we can do about that now. Maybe in time you'll forget me and then you can go back to normal. Hell, you even have Ace to replace me!" He shouted, turning on his heel and walking away. He didn't want to look like he was running from her (which he was, not that he'd admit it to himself). She stared after him, fighting tears, unaware that the noise from their argument had woken Grandma Rose.

"Skye? Skye! Oh dear, you're alright! We we're worried sick! Where's Riku? Is he okay?" She asked, running out of the house. Skye wasn't listening. She was on the verge of tears and all she could hear was the ringing left in her ears from Riku's voice. She was frozen in place until Grandma Rose touched her shoulder.

"I…" She tried to speak, but no words would come out. Grandma Rose looked concerned.

"Dear? Are you alright?" She asked. Skye nodded. Grandma Rose looked around. "Where's Riku? Is he alright?" She repeated. Skye looked up at her.

"I, well…I mean, he was…I have to go find him." She said suddenly, running off down the road.

………………………………………

ouch, that didn't go over so well did it? See what happens next chappie and review!

PS: so sorry it took so long to update! WoW swallowed my soul, I hate Hamlet, and my social life has proceeded to explode in the midst of summatives and exams… so sorry! The next one will come sooner!


	14. Chapter 14: Binding Destiny

**Chapter 14: Binding Destiny**

Skye ran down to the docks. She couldn't see Riku's boat anywhere. She looked around. It wasn't at the Island… where would he be? With a flick of her wrist, she lit a fire next to her and stepped through it, appearing out of a matching flame at the cove, thinking that maybe he'd come around to the back of the Island and beached his boat there. No such luck. She let out an angered sigh and looked around. Her memories of her first day on the Islands overflowed in her: playing on the air mattress with Kairi, chasing it with Riku, finding the Oasis… she smiled to herself. _I suppose that's when I first discovered how I felt about Riku. Even if I'd only known him for about 4 hours at the time…_Then the thought smacked her across the face. The Oasis! He said no one ever went there, and so it would be the perfect place to escape! But… what would she say when she found him? She faltered. Her presence now would probably only make him angrier, but she couldn't leave with this fight hanging over their heads. A moment later, it was as if a light bulb lit over her head, and indeed, a small candle flame did waver a few inches above the crown over her head. She giggled and put it out, and smile passed across her lips. _Oh, I'm brilliant!_ She decided with a smug smirk before turning on her heel and heading back towards the beach house.

Riku beached his boat on the Oasis and disappeared through the trees. He reemerged a moment later inside the ring of trees and sat on the log next to the Oasis, looking up at the stars. It was a stupid idea to run away. He'd probably go back and find her gone while she had the chance. He sighed loudly. There was a loud crack, followed by several sharp snaps. He twisted around to see what it was. An enormous fire had appeared a few feet behind him, and Skye stepped out of it. She was clutching something in her hands, but he turned around, stood up and started to walk away before even looking to see what it was.

"Riku. Wait." She said. She tried to sound commanding, but her voice broke halfway through. He remained silent and kept walking. She frowned at him. "Riku! Please, I need to talk to you."

"No." He answered simply. He didn't want to hear her voice. Everything about her hurt him, because he knew that it would be the last time he'd ever experience those things for a long, long time if she went back alone. She caught his wrist.

"Riku…"

"No!" He said, more forcefully this time, tugging away from her.

"Riku! Listen to me!"

"I can't. You don't get it!" He shouted, his anger boiling up again. She grabbed his arm and he pulled away. A wall of flame burst up in front of him. He spun around and glared at her. He could see the fear all over her face. She was bluffing. It was cold fire, he was willing to bet his life on it. His gaze hardened and he stepped through it, barely faltering. He'd been right. The fire was just an illusion. She wouldn't hurt him. He faltered. She wouldn't hurt him because she cared about him…but still, he couldn't take her presence for the time being and he started to walk away again.

"RIKU!" She cried, her frustration obvious. He didn't answer and leaned forward, prepared for her to grab and pull again. No attack came for a long moment. Riku was almost at his boat but he stayed braced for an assault. Instead of the pulling he had expected, a large weight collided with his back as Skye tackled him. Leaning forward, and so off balance already, he stumbled for only a moment before he tripped and both went tumbling into the water. She sat up, pushing her now soaked hair out of her face and kneeling. She was kneeling about chest deep in the water. Riku sat up, between her and the shoreline, so it was a bit shallower. He glared at her, but she caught his gaze and held it. He tried to look away, but couldn't. A moment later, her gaze flicked down to her hands and his followed. He froze. Skye was holding a paopu fruit out to him. She looked so helpless, soaking wet in the water with the pleading look on her face. He was torn between his anger and his love. Her voice broke the deafening silence.

"I want to be with you forever. This way…"

"This way our fates will be one. We'll win this thing or we'll die trying. Together. Both of us." He answered, reaching out and placing his hands over hers. A small smile passed over her lips.

"This way he can't use you against me again. That's what I was so afraid of." She admitted.

"We'll do this together." He answered, pulling her towards him and hugging her close. She sighed into his shirt, locking her arms around his chest, momentarily forgetting the paopu fruit and dropping it into the water. When they finally pulled apart, Skye picked up the forgotten fruit and tried to break it in half. With a slurping sound, it fell apart in her hands, soggy and waterlogged. She made a face, looking down at her hands and the yellow juice that gathered in her palms, mixing with the salt water. Grinning mischievously, Riku grabbed her right wrist and licked what was left of the pulp and the juice off her hand. She let out a shrieking giggle.

"That tickles!" She cried, pulling her hand out of his grasp. Then she paused, running her tongue up her left palm before rinsing the rest of the fruit juice off in the water. Riku's mouth quirked into a smile.

"Sea salt and paopu fruit. Sweet and salty. The unexpected but perfect couple." He noted with a grin. She pushed a lock of hair out of his face.

"So, does that count as sharing a paopu fruit?" She asked uncertainly. He shrugged.

"I dunno, but there's no harm in making sure." He answered slowly. She nodded, standing up and, with a flick of her wrist, forming a fire portal which they stepped through together.

…………………………………………………………

Sora was roused slowly from his sleep by the sound of voices. He rolled over in his bed, burying his face into his pillow and trying to ignore them. His window was open, and two people were having an argument on the street. He ignored them dutifully, paying no attention whatsoever to the words. The voices were vaguely recognizable, but he knew the vast majority of the people on the Island he lived on anyways, so that wasn't anything unusual. He pulled his pillow over his head and clamped it over his ears. The voices were even more muffled and he started to drift off, bits and pieces of the argument still discernable through the pillow.

"…get hurt any more because of me!"

"…couldn't, but I want to help!"

"Riku! Don't make this any harder than it has to be!"

The last comment, made Sora stir. His brain was still slowed from the fog of sleep. _Riku. Why is it weird that someone is arguing with Riku…?_ He wondered dumbly. Then, suddenly, he remembered that both Riku and Skye were missing. At that thought, he threw himself out of bed, staring out the window. Skye and Riku were standing a little ways down the road, in front of Grandma Rose's house. They were a few feet apart, Skye with her hands on her hips and Riku with his hands clenched at his sides, and both were yelling at each other. Sora reached the window on time to hear Skye shouting.

"This isn't your fight!"

"Yes it is!"

"He took _me_ prisoner, he tried to sacrifice _me_, he was after _me_! This is _my_ fight!"

"He took me prisoner too! He tortured me to try to get me to tell him where you were!" At Riku's last comment, Sora's eyes went wide as saucers and he turned on his heel to race outside, tripping over the corner of his bed and ending up sprawled on the floor as a result. After the resounding crash, and as he tried to right himself, Sora heard Riku's voice, angrier than he's ever heard his older friend before.

"Fine! I get it. Go back to your real family. This is why you didn't want to remember, but there's nothing we can do about that now. Maybe in time you'll forget me and then you can go back to normal. Hell, you even have Ace to replace me!" The voice came rolling through the window, dripping with resentment towards whoever this Ace person was. Sora sat up, shocked into silence, and was, from his vantage point, able to see the top of Riku's head as he stormed off towards the docks. Sora got to his feet, pulled a shirt on over his head (as all he was wearing at the time was pajama bottoms) and raced down the stairs. He skidded to a stop at the door, searching blindly in the darkness for his shoes for a few moments before he had the sense to turn the lights on. When he did, he found his shoes without much trouble and was about to run out the door when his groggy mother came down the stairs.

"Sora?" She asked, yawning and stretching. "What are you doing?"

"Gotta go! Riku's back! But he just left, tell you about it later!" The words tumbled out of his mouth nearly incoherently as he ran out the door. He could see Skye standing at the docks at the far end of the street and started towards her, stopping to gape when a massive fire appeared, floating a few inches off the ground next to her, and she stepped into it before both she and the flame disappeared without a trace. He continued to gape for a long moment before he turned around and spotted Grandma Rose standing on the street.

"Sora!" She called, waving to him. He ran over.

"What happened? I saw Riku, and I think Skye, but…"

"I'm not sure yet. I heard arguing and came outside to see what was going on, but when I got here, Riku was already gone, and then Skye ran off to try to find him." She replied. Normally, Rose wouldn't have bothered about people in the street so late at night, but after being broken into, which was followed by the kidnapping of Skye and Riku's disappearance, she became much more cautious. Sora thought about her explanation for a long while.

"Okay, I'll go get Kairi and the others, and then we can split up and look for them." He said tentatively, looking at Grandma Rose for approval. She nodded and he hurried down the street to Kairi's house. Deciding it was best to not wake up the whole house, he ran to the side of the house and scrambled up the morning glory trellis just below Kairi's bedroom window. He pulled himself up onto the window sill and slipped into her room. She woke with a start.

"What the…!" Kairi shouted, rolling out of bed and struggling to her feet, barely taking the time to rub the sleep out of her eyes. When she saw it was Sora, she relaxed. "Oh. I thought I told you to knock when you wanted in!" She said, quieting her voice.

"Kairi! Riku and Skye are back! I saw them!" He answered in a hurried whisper. Her jaw dropped.

"What? They're back? Where are they?"

"I don't know! I saw Riku leave from out my window and Skye walked through a fire!" He said, knowing full well how crazy he sounded.

"Oh Sora… you much have been dreaming. I know where all worried…"

"I'm not dreaming! I swear! Grandma Rose saw them too! Come _on_!" He said, his voice rising a little in his frustration.

"Okay okay, give me a minute!" She answered, proceeding to rummage through her closet for some proper clothes. She donned them quickly and the pair ran out of the house as fast as they could.

"Right, you go find Selphie and Wakka, I'll get Lulu and Irvine. We have to go looking for Riku and Skye." He answered. Kairi nodded and hurried down towards the docks, turning a corner and disappearing from view. Selphie and Wakka lived relatively close to one another, as did Lulu and Irvine. Sora ran off in the other direction, intent on finding his friends.

It took only about 20 minutes for the six of them to regather in front of Grandma Rose's house.

"So, they're not anywhere around here…" Selphie noted with a yawn. Sora nodded.

"Riku was heading towards the docks, and that's where Skye was before she disappeared, so I think it's pretty safe to assume that at least Riku took his boat. Me and Kairi can search the Island. Wakka and Lulu, do you guys want to go look in the shopping district? Selphie and Irvine, you guys check out around the school. Okay?" The others nodded in agreement with Sora's plan. Kairi smiled.

"Let's go! Meet back here in an hour!" At that, they all headed down to the docks, and, from there, scattered. Kairi and Sora took Sora's boat to the Island. They searched everywhere, from the deck in the trees where Tidus used to train, to the star tree that Sora and Riku used to use as the marker for their races. Disheartened, Sora and Kairi started to make their way back to the beach.

"Don't worry. One of the others probably found them." Sora said hopefully, just as much for his own benefit as for Kairi's. Stepping out of the beach house, they paused, hearing a quiet laugh. They each looked at each other, to make sure that they hadn't imagined it and that the other had heard it as well, when another laugh sounded, this time matched with a lower, more masculine laugh at the same time. They looked out to Paopu Island, and saw two figures on the tree, silhouetted by the moon, which was now low in the sky. Curious, and not wanting to get their hopes up, they crossed the bridge towards the Island. One, the silver haired one, was shirtless, his damp t-shirt laid hanging to dry from one of the other, smaller branches. Thick, fresh scars formed a patchwork diamond in the middle of his back, just below his shoulder blades, with the scars splaying upwards from the diamond shape across his shoulder blades up to his shoulders and occasionally running across the backs of his upper arms. His companion was much smaller than himself. She wore a long flowing red robe embroidered with flames, and jeans, damp like his clothes. Her long black curls fell freely about her shoulders. Both of them held half of a paopu fruit, and each piece had small bites out of them. Skye paused.

"I could dry your shirt you know." She commented, taking another bite out of the fruit.

"Without burning it to a crisp?" Riku asked, interested.

"What fun is fire if you can't burn things?" She asked, sounding amused. She hopped down off the tree, leaving her piece of paopu balanced on the trunk, and fire enveloped her for a moment. Sora and Kairi froze, horrified. Then, she reappeared from amid the flames, her clothing completely dry. The flames disappeared when she snapped her fingers and Riku was mildly impressed.

"Okay, go for it." He said, nodding.

"…"

"…well?" He asked, confused.

"…you have to be wearing it." She answered with a small smile, reaching for her piece of the paopu fruit and eating more. Riku popped what was left of his into his mouth and reached for his shirt, pulling it on. Then, he sat and waited. She still didn't do anything. He crossed his arms.

"Okay, what else am I doing wrong?" He asked, amused. Her smile widened.

"You have to get off the tree. Or I'll end up burning it to a crisp."

"Oh." With that, he hopped off and stood next to her. She swallowed the last of her paopu fruit and Riku leaned down to kiss her. She smiled sweetly at him and, with a lazy motion of her hand, he disappeared in a tongue of flame. Kairi let out an involuntary cry upon seeing this. Skye twisted around, alarmed, at the same time closing her fist and making the fire disappear, leaving Riku dry and unharmed. He heard it too and stepped around the tree.

"Sora! Kairi!" He greeted them, grinning from ear to ear. Skye stumbled out from behind the tree after him, surprised.

"Hey! What are you guys doing up at this time of night?" She asked, running up to them and tackling both in a big hug.

"Looking for you." Kairi answered, sticking out her tongue. "What happened to you guys?" She asked excitedly. Riku and Skye told them just about everything that happened, from Skye's promise to follow Dax's orders to let Riku go, to the disguise and running way, to saving Skye from being sacrificed, to the tidal wave and Skye remembering, and then to going to the Rebel City.

"…and then we came here to look for you." Skye finished. Sora looked from one to the other.

"What were you arguing about?" He asked. Skye bowed her head sheepishly.

"Oh. You heard that."

"Duh. You were yelling at each other in the middle of the street." He answered, crossing his arms. Kairi blinked at them in surprise.

"You were?" She asked, more curious than anything. Riku nodded.

"After everything that happened, Skye didn't want me to go back to Dawn's Oceans with her. She said that it wasn't my fight and I shouldn't put myself in danger like that when I didn't have to. I said that I did have to, because she was going to be fighting, and I wanted to help her. It sort of escalated from there." He answered. Sora nodded his understanding, and then gasped.

"Wait! You're going back? But Skye hasn't even told us about what she remembers yet! And everyone's been so worried about you!" He said. Skye shrugged.

"So then tell them we'll be fine and we'll be back soon, alright?"

"No way! You can't go yet!" Kairi cried. Skye shook her head, refusing to budge on her decision.

"We have to go. They all need us back. We'll come back here soon, once Dax is gone." She insisted. Sora looked helpless.

"Then, then let us help!"

"No way." Riku answered flatly. "I know what lengths you went to, to keep this place safe. To keep Kairi safe. I never really understood why you'd go so far to save a planet before, but I get it now. You risked everything for this place. You can't leave it." He continued.

"But, I did all that for you and Kairi." Sora answered, crestfallen. "Please, come back with us to at least see everybody else."

"We have to get back." Skye said gently. They ignored her and started across the bridge, thinking that they were leading Skye and Riku back with them. There was a short crackling sound and Sora turned around. Both Skye and Riku were gone. Kairi stopped and noticed that they were gone.

"What do we do?" She asked quietly. Sora thought for a long time, weighing the options in his head. After a long silence, he spoke.

"Riku said they were on a planet called Dawn's Oceans, right?"

Mkay! So what did everybody think of this one? I'm proud of myself for writing this one so fast -dances around- And the paopu fruit mixed with salt water is kind of like a shoutout to the brilliance of sea salt ice cream a la KH2. Just kind of threw it in 'cause i'm cool like that. Right? Okay! Review pleeeeeeease!


	15. Chapter 15: The Ace of Spades

**Chapter 15: The Ace of Spades**

"They went back to the Destiny Islands." Jade said. Ace had just walked through the large double doors into the Council Room. She answered him before he even asked. He paused, surprised.

"Oh. Wait, they? Riku went with her?" He asked. Jade gave him a look.

"Of course Riku went with her. It's _his_ home planet." She answered shortly. The Council Room was a large round room with an oval table in the center. There were shelves covered in books and maps and plans. Said things were also scattered across the table. Jade was sitting at the end of the table closest to the door, looking over a map. Lodi was milling over a book near one of the shelves. There was also another man standing with his arms crossed, leaning against one of the shelves. He was deep in thought, but every once in a while his eyes would flash up towards where Ace was standing. He looked the exact opposite of Ace in everything but age; he was probably only five or so years older than Ace's eighteen. Otherwise, his hair was dark, dark brown and cropped short, as opposed to Ace's shock of messy platinum blonde hair. His eyes matched his hair, where Ace's were bright blue, and his skin was the fair colour of someone who spent most of their time inside, where Ace had a tanned complexion from spending most of his life outdoors. The man was Prince Erik, heir to the rightful throne of Gova. He and Ace had never gotten along, with Ace blaming him for every abuse he endured at the hands of soldiers before Dax arrived. There was a long tense silence as the two of them looked at each other.

"Alright. Let me know when they get back." Ace muttered, still glaring at Erik. With that, he turned around and strode out. Without ever looking up from his book, Lodi spoke.

"That boy makes enemies too easily."

…………………………………………………………………

Ace's apartment looked almost exactly the same as Skye's. He was standing on his balcony, looking out over the coast, with the small town off to his right. He'd marveled at how Venus and Mars had been able to cast an illusion over the windows so that they'd remain hidden, and how they'd designed the balconies perfectly so that no one would be able to see them from the ground. Now he was paying no attention to either the twins' feats of engineering, or the breathtaking view out in front of him. He sighed, thinking back on the day he'd first met Riku and they found Skye again:

_When she fell out of that fire, I was surprised to see Riku so worried. We all knew that she'd be fine. No one was really expecting her to collapse, but he seemed like he thought she'd be dead. Like she wasn't a Fire User. I guess he didn't know. But she fell into him, and the two of them ended up of the floor of that tower like a pair of lovers. And from the way he whispered to her, I guessed that they were. Once I realized that he saw her in a light that I never did, I all of a sudden felt like I was the one who deserved her. We survived our childhoods because of each other, and we fought side by side for years. And somehow this guy that she'd only just met managed to wedge himself between her and me. They spend all their time together. It's sickening._

His face twisted into an expression of disgust. He fished a small ball out of his pocket. Not that he would know, but it looked exactly like the ball Dax had used to open the portal in the Islands when he kidnapped Skye. Ace walked back into his living room and held the tiny sphere out in front of him studying it carefully. He tightened his hand around it and the plastic-like surface seemed to melt away, pooling into a much less substantial sphere of dark water floating in midair in his hand. He drew his hand away from it, bewildered, but still it floated. He watched it, curious, as a tongue of the dark water drew outwards from it. Another tongue stretched out opposite the first. Then another appeared between them, and one opposite to that. More and more appeared until there were eight rays of water pointing out from the center sphere, making it look like a wavering, black sun. Then, it began to spin, giving it a spiral shape. The tongues began to merge together and grow outward, until an oval of water was formed, floating at seven feet at it's tallest, and four feet at it's widest. Ace stared at it with a hard gaze. A cloaked figure emerged from the portal.

"I've upheld my end of the bargain. Just give me my warning. That's all I ask." He stated firmly. The cloaked figure nodded.

"Your warning you shall have. It's the least I can do after you single handedly crushing the only force standing in my way." The man said, his tone almost mocking, but subtly enough that while Ace was angered by it, he couldn't really snap back at him. The man turned on his heel and started to walk back through the portal, but Ace grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him roughly around.

"Wait. If that'd only the least you can do, then there's something more I want." He said. The cloaked man pulled back his hood, Dax's blue eyes boring holes into him. He shoved Ace backwards, sending the blonde stumbling into the couch.

"Treat your betters with some respect or you may find yourself dead. Got it?" He asked, the venom seething in his voice. Ace was trembling, but he still held his voice steady and made his demand.

"I gave you what you want. This will give you your unquestioned tyranny. Now all I ask is that you answer me one damned question!" He answered, his voice raising slowly as he spoke. Ace and Dax were standing toe to toe, glaring at each other.

"Ask away. I won't guarantee an answer." Dax said after a moment, his voice still filled with poison.

"Skye. Can you help me?" Ace asked. Dax's guard went up instantly.

"Why? What do you want?" He asked in reply. Ace smiled bitterly.

"Do you actually think I give a shit about this rebellion? No. I joined because she was a part of it. Riku stole her from me and I want her back. I need you to help me." He said darkly. Dax licked his lips, smirking in the most haunting fashion.

"Of course. Tell me what you need me to do."

"Warn me before you come, so that Skye and I can leave. Riku will die here with the rest of them, and he'll be out of my way. In other words, all I want is for you to do exactly what you wanted to do in the first place. Just take care that Riku is one of the fatal casualties."

"I like the way you think boy. Consider it done." Dax said with a nod, his cruel smirk never leaving his face. "Nice doing business with you."

"There's more." Ace said quickly. Dax cocked an eyebrow in mild surprise.

"More?"

"Skye's powers. Her mentors said that her powers are dangerous. Like she can't control them. Is it that she's a danger to herself?" Ace asked. Dax thought this over, and with a smile of thinly veiled contempt, he sat down on the couch.

"Indeed. She may be in quite a bit of danger to herself." Dax lied. "The Heartless keep a rein on my power, but she doesn't have anything to keep her grounded. Tell me, what do you know about her powers? I'll be able to help you more if you could tell me more." He said smoothly, laughing silently to himself.

Skye and Riku walked out of the flame and into Skye's apartment in the Rebel City. Riku let out a long sigh. Skye flopped down onto the couch.

"I feel kind of bad for leaving them. But it's not like we had any choice." She mumbled.

"I know…" Riku answered, sitting down next to her. He stared out the window. "But they know we're alright, and that we'll come back, so that's what matters, right?"

"Yeh…" Skye answered halfheartedly. She tilted her head back so she could look at him. "I'm glad you came back with me, you know." She said with a smile. Riku smiled back at her, planting a kiss on her lips.

"Nothing can keep us apart now. No matter what happens, we share a destiny."

The next morning, Skye took Riku for a proper tour of the Rebel City. The three levels above the ground were bakeries, blacksmiths, tanners, and other such crafts. The crafts men and women lived behind their workshops. The five levels above those belonged to the soldiers, with the level above that being a training area. The level above that were for scholars and tactical intelligence. Above that was the Council Room and the Rebel's apartments, the Rebels being Lodi, Jade, Skye, Riku, Ace, Venus and Mars. Skye and Riku met Mars on the way up.

"Mars! This is Riku." Skye called, waving him over. "And Riku, this is Soren, but everyone calls him Mars."

"…why?" Riku asked after a moment. Skye blinked at him, not understanding the question. It was Mars who answered.

"Because Venus and myself use Earth Magic. As such, we found ourselves named after planets." He answered politely. "It's good to meet you, by the way."

"Oh, you too." Riku answered, startled by Mars' mannerisms. Skye smiled.

"Right, well, we'll see you later Mars."

"Have a good day." He replied with a wave as Skye and Riku walked away.

"He's really…" Riku started to say before he realized that he couldn't find the word. Skye finished for him.

"Sophisticated? I know. It's a little weird." She answered with an amused grin. She led him through the tunnel where they'd seen the farmer's coming in the first day, and found a massive, flat, hollowed out space underground, beneath the sea. It was essentially a massive underground farmer's field, lit by Skye's mini-suns, and irrigated by the water above them. Then, she took him to the little port village at the base of the mountain. A woman covered in endless numbers of shawls was sitting in the market.

"Hey, you there!" She said suddenly, pointing a crooked finger at them. They stopped, startled. She was completely hidden under her layers of cloaks and shawls, with only her face and her pointing hand visible and even then, once she folded her hands in her lap again, both of them disappeared too. Skye tilted her head to one side and walked towards her. The woman showed her a toothy grin. "Fortune?"

"I'm sorry?" Skye asked, confused. The woman let out a chuckle. She wasn't as old as one might be led to believe; no older than 35.

"Do you want you're fortune told? I'm an oracle. No charge. I can tell just by looking at you that your fortunes would be just a treat to tell, the two of you." She said, peering at them from under her shawls. Skye and Riku looked at each other and shrugged.

"Sure." Riku answered after a moment. Then woman nodded with a smile and showed them through a small door in the side of a building. It led to a rather claustrophobic staircase. Riku and Skye climbed it carefully, since it was dark inside despite the sunlight outside, and found themselves in a small room. It looked like it had been an attic that the woman had converted into her 'workshop'. There was a shelf covered in bottles filled with materials that they weren't so sure they wanted named. There was a long table sitting below a window with the heavy drapes closed, so that the only light came from the two lamps on opposite walls and the three candles on the round table in the center. The long table had tarot cards strewn across it. The round table had numerous chairs sitting around it, and a crystal ball sitting next to the candles on it, flickering strangely in the light. Riku and Skye sat down, looking at each other skeptically. The woman climbed the stairs a moment later, pulling the shawls off her head. A mass of red curls practically exploded out from underneath their wrappings, falling freely to her shoulders and making her look much younger than she had looked on the street. Or perhaps her youthful appearance was a trick of the light. She sat down opposite them and looked at them with a very business like demeanor.

"You're skeptical." She said after a moment. Both of them remained silent. They didn't really want to admit it for fear of offending her, but at the same time, they didn't want to lie. She shrugged. "No problem. I'll start with Riku, and then we'll see how you feel about my clairvoyance." She answered. Riku nodded his assent, and then blinked in surprise.

"Wait a minute, I didn't tell you…oh." He started to speak, to ask how she knew his name, but realized halfway through that she _did_ just claim to be an oracle. Who knows, maybe she really is psychic. He gave a mental shrug, deciding that he wouldn't judge one way or the other until he heard what she had to say.

"Let's see…well, I've never seen anything like this before. Half a destiny! How about that!" She exclaimed, peering into her crystal ball. Riku stared off into space in the crystal and found that she could show him what she was seeing with it. He saw himself, and a series of images flashing before him, but with many of the major pieces in those images missing. None of them stayed long enough for him to make any sense of them, but he could see the strange gaps. Skye's figure appeared next to his a moment later, and she took his hand. Once that happened, the pictures became whole, though no less discernable to Riku than they had been before. The woman just stared, gaping. Skye was getting a little impatient, not understanding what was going on.

"What?"

"Well, this is certainly shocking!" The woman said, surprised. "His destiny only becomes complete once I look into your destiny as well! It's as if…"

"We share a destiny?" Riku asked, looking rather amused. The woman nodded.

"Exactly!" She said, thinking she'd made some grand discovery. Skye grinned.

"We knew that already." She said. The woman blinked at them, confused, and then shook her head.

"Alright then, let's take a look at what your combined destinies hold." She peered back into the crystal ball, apparently concentrating very hard. After a long silence, she looked up at them. "All of the signs point to a grand disaster. You'll work to stop it, but a betrayal will mean that you'll get there too late. And there's something else that I can't see any meaning in. I've never seen nor heard of it before. A broken lock. It will make you happy, that much I do know, though why a broken lock would make you happy I could never fathom." She leaned back in her chair. "I knew you two would be interesting, but not so confusing." She sighed. Skye shrugged.

"At least we know why we share a destiny." She said simply. The woman looked like she was going to fall out of her chair.

"You do?" She asked, leaning forward. Skye grinned sheepishly; she'd forgotten that people here didn't know about paopu fruit.

"There's a fruit, and they say that if you share it with someone you care about, your destinies become intertwined." She explained. The woman smiled knowingly.

"Well, isn't that romantic!" She cleared her throat as Skye and Riku found themselves blushing slightly. "I think I've held you two up long enough. You probably have places to be, right?" She asked with a kind smile. "We've been here for over an hour now, after all."

"We have?" Skye asked, mildly alarmed. She hadn't realized that it had been that long. The woman nodded.

"Indeed. Now, do come back and visit! I'm Amilee, by the way." She said, waving for them to follow her as she descended the steps, wrapping her shawls back around her as she went. Riku and Skye followed her out and she took her place back on the corner of the market. The couple walked down into the market, browsing through the wares.

"You think she was a real oracle?" Riku asked after a minute.

"I dunno. She knew your name, and she knew about the paopu fruit. But that's all stuff that's already happened. She could have found out some how. Who knows? It might even have been some elaborate plan from Dax to find out the location of the Rebel City." She answered, more thinking out loud than actually replying. Then she grinned. "Though most of that stuff is pretty farfetched…" she admitted sheepishly. Riku shrugged.

"I guess we'll just have to wait to find out."

……………………………………………………

Dun dun dun! Ace is officially a terrible person… and is the oracle really able to see the future! Find out next chappie! And make sure to review please. My head is going to explode. POOF! …--head deflates--


	16. Chapter 16: Bloody Midnight

**Chapter 16: Bloody Midnight**

The next morning came around, and there was a loud knocking at the door of Skye's apartment. Skye lifted her pillow and buried her head underneath it, mumbling something about it being early. So, it was Riku who rolled out of bed, wearing only his boxers, and walked up to the door. He opened it a crack and peered outside, yawning. Jade was standing at the door, trying to look official and important, but was having a hard time keeping from grinning.

"Oh, hello Riku." She greeted him with a wink. He rolled his eyes and was about to speak when another voice rang out behind Jade.

"Who's Riku? I thought you said I was meeting Skye!" A little boy came out from around behind Jade. Riku blinked at him.

"Skye's sleeping, little man." He said tiredly. The boy pouted at him.

"Then how come you get to be inside?"

"Because I was sleeping too, until you two showed up."

"Why were you sleeping here? Don't you have your own place to sleep?"

"You ask way too many questions, kid." Riku said finally. The boy fell silent. It was then that Riku noticed he was wearing a habit that matched the one Jade was wearing. The woman nodded.

"Riku, this is Galen. The Shrine has apparently been searching for me for a long time to be his teacher. He's to be my apprentice." She explained.

"Awesome…" Riku said, yawning again. "I thought the Shrine disowned you because you chose to side against Dax and they wanted to be neutral."

"They did, but apparently since the incident that brought Venus and Mars to us, there has been some debate about whether or not the Shrine should support us. Either way, they've wanted me to be his teacher ever since they found out I was with Skye." She answered.

"What does Skye have to do with you being his teacher?" He asked, confused. Jade shrugged.

"Galen has an unnatural strength, exactly the way Skye does. I've already dealt with someone who's had that extra strength, so I guess they figured I'd be the best for the job." She said. Riku nodded.

"Oh. Well. I'm going back to bed."

"Wait!" Galen piped up. "I want to meet Skye!" He insisted. Riku sighed.

"I told you, she's asleep." He answered.

"But I want to meet her!" Galen said again.

"Why do you want to meet her so badly?" Riku asked, slightly exasperated. There was a long silence.

"I can't tell you." Galen answered after a moment. Riku was immediately suspicious.

"Why not?" He asked warily. A deeply sad expression passed across Galen's face.

"Because you'll tell Skye, and I made a promise I'd make sure that she didn't know."

"Why?" Riku asked again, still not trusting Galen. The boy sighed. He looked like he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders, even though he couldn't be any older than seven.

"Because she'll get hurt. It will hurt her heart. And it will make her mom sad if she gets hurt. It will make you sad too, I think." He answered. Riku knelt down next to Galen so that they were at eye level.

"What is it? If it's going to hurt her, we should know so that we can do something about it."

"But it won't hurt her until she knows. And if she does know, it will hurt her a lot. Her mom made me promise not to tell her, because when her mom found out, it hurt her heart so much that she died. She doesn't want Skye to be hurt and die too." Galen explained slowly. Riku stared at him. _If Skye's mom has been dead since she was little, how does this kid know all this?_ He wondered. Jade, as if reading Riku's mind, spoke.

"This is why they sent him to me. We are healers, using Life Magic. His magic is so strong that he can cross the line between life and death and listen to the whispers of those gone before us." There was a long silence as Riku absorbed this information. Jade smiled. "I think, as well, that it has something to do with the suspicion at the Shrine of the Rebel City being in this area. His sister lives in town, and they usually like to keep families together." She added. Gaden perked up.

"Oh, since I can't meet Skye yet, can we go see Daisy instead?" He asked eagerly. Jade sighed, and then nodded. They were about to leave when Skye's voice echoed into the hall from behind Riku.

"What's going on?" She asked tiredly, rubbing her eyes. She was wearing only a bath robe and was trying to peek over Riku's shoulder to see who was at the door. Gaden peered into the room with wide eyes.

"Skye?" He asked excitedly. Riku stepped away from the door and disappeared back into the bedroom to find some clothes. Gaden walked into the room, grinning up at Skye, who smiled back, albeit confusedly.

"Hey there. Who are you?"

"I'm Gaden. I'm Jade's new apprentice." He answered proudly. "I'm a healer, but my magic is extra strong like yours." He added. Skye looked genuinely interested.

"Really?" She asked. "Do you know how come you magic is so powerful?" She was eager to learn anything about why she was so much stronger than others. She wanted desperately to know what the connection between her, Dax and now Gaden was. Of course, Gaden was as clueless in the matter as she was, if not more.

…………………………

The Council Room was full of people: Lodi, Jade, Ace, Skye, Riku, Venus, Mars and Erik.

"Where's Gaden?" Skye asked.

"He's seven. He'll just get bored and in the way." Ace answered. Skye glared at him.

"This concerns him as much as it does me." She shot back. Erik held up his hand.

"Stop it, both of you. Gaden is in the town with his sister." He said sharply. Ace glowered at him.

"You're not king yet. This is _our_ domain, so don't think for a moment that _you_ can order me around!" He said, his voice raising to near shout.

"Then I'll tell you to shut up!" Riku answered angrily. Lodi stood up.

"I expect my orders to be followed around here as they would be on my ship, is that clear? Now, stop this arguing so we can get down to business." He said calmly, but with a tone that demanded obedience. There was quiet for a long moment, and then he sat down again. "Alright, so what's the issue?"

"Where does this excess magic come from in Gaden, Dax and I?" Skye asked. Riku frowned.

"Before Gaden showed up, I'd kind of thought that it had something to do with Ansem. Either that your mother and father were from different planets, or that your father had such close ties to darkness." He said plainly. Jade chewed her lip in thought.

"I could imagine that inter-planetary marriages have happened before, but nothing like this has happened before. So the idea that the parents are from different planets causing this is pretty unlikely. I'd put more stock in your second suggestion, Riku." She said slowly. Lodi crossed his arms.

"But why would darkness affect them like this? One would think that the darkness would weaken magics like fire and life, with them both being inherently light."

"Darkness is extremely strong." Riku replied. "It can overcome nearly everything, and it takes a great deal of strength to defeat it. It's no chance that the people who seek power often end up caught in darkness. If light was the stronger of the two, we would find ourselves with enemies wielding light. The darkness increases someone's power, and then as they crave more, they fall further into darkness, until the darkness claims their heart."

"…but darkness won't claim Skye's heart, will it?" Ace asked. Skye shook her head.

"I've never gone to the darkness seeking power in the first place, so I don't see why it should. People go to darkness for power, and then as they crave more, they fall deeper in. I never went to the darkness, so I shouldn't ever crave more power using darkness, right?" She asked, looking at Riku for confirmation. He looked as clueless about the suggestion as she felt. It was Jade who spoke.

"Actually, now that you bring that up, I think your power might be only a side effect of your father's ties to the darkness. I don't think you can inherit darkness…but I think you might be able to inherit the excess power Ansem gained from giving into darkness."

"That sounds about right." Riku agreed. "Ties to darkness aren't permanent. Me, Sora and Kairi are all living proof of that. And since they aren't permanent, I don't think they could be inherited." There was a long silence. Everyone seemed in agreement with that theory. However, a frown passed over Skye's face as she spoke.

"This is all well and great, but it only explains it if it was just me and Dax. Gaden changes everything." There was another long silence, this one much longer than the previous.

"We know it's not random, since this is the first time it's ever happened, and it's not a unique case, since there's three of you…" Erik said thoughtfully. Skye's hand burst into flames, and she turned it over in front of her, as if the power itself would give her the answer. Everyone else started at the sudden burst of fire. No one said anything for a long, long time.

……………………………………………

The burning forest was all around her, and Skye felt as if her dream from her first night on the Islands had occurred only moments ago, and now she was continuing it. Indeed, she vaguely recognized that this was a dream, but the implications of it being a dream didn't occur to her at the time. She was standing in the burning meadow, in the burning forest, with the shadowy warrior who had just dispatched the two other shadows. As the fighter's face came into light, she smiled. _Riku_. He smiled back at her. She put her hand out in front of her, palm facing the ground, and the flames shrank away from them, retreating to the edges of the meadow. Six long tendrils of white spread out along the ground from Riku, extending to the edges of the meadow and splitting as they grew, becoming like a great glowing set of roots. Then, Mars and Avani were next to her, and they put their hands against the glowing roots and used them to grow all of the wildflowers that had been killed in the fires. Skye noticed after a moment that the tendrils didn't originate from Riku at all; they started at a spot somewhere just behind him. Once they were all ankle deep in every flower imaginable, Riku stepped aside and Gaden was there behind him. He took Riku's hand and a sobered looked passed over his face. Everyone looked sad, but Skye wasn't sad; she was angry. A figure was lying on the flowers between her, Mars and Venus, and Riku and Gaden, draped in a black cloth that covered them from head to toe. The body was wrapped in the white 'roots' and Mars and Venus placed their hands on it and roses sprouted out, creating a great mound of blood red roses in the middle of the multi-coloured field in the center of the burning forest. They all stood there for what could have been moments, but also could have been hours. At some point however, the two shadows reappeared, stepping out from the burning forest and into their meadow. Skye cast her hand towards the smaller one, who instantly burst into flames. The second, bigger shadow absorbed the smaller one, growing even bigger. Suddenly, Skye found herself in a battlefield, with Riku at her side, and an army of familiar warriors at her back, though she couldn't turn around to see who they were. They charged the enormous shadow. She brought her weapon down on him, and as soon as she made contact, everything went black and she woke up, startled and sweating.

Riku was half-sitting up, cradling Skye carefully.

"Nightmare?" He asked quietly. She shook her head.

"I don't think so…"

"You were trembling." He said. She sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

"Something big is going to happen. I just wish I knew what." There was a pause, and then a door slammed somewhere. Skye rubbed her eyes, looking annoyed. "What was that?"

"Sounded like a door." Riku answered, stating the obvious.

"Who'd be up at this time of night?" She asked.

"We are." Riku said, again stating the obvious. She rolled her eyes, slightly amused.

"But we're not slamming doors and disturbing other people." The sound of muffled, raised voices could be heard, followed by a yell. Skye sat up suddenly. "I swear, that was Ace!" She said, getting to her feet and pulling on some clothes. Riku got up and pulled on a pair of jeans, ignorant of the fact that he definitely wasn't wearing a shirt. The two of them headed out the door and onto the platform, where the 'sun' still blazed as if it were day. There was no one there. Everything was quiet and peaceful as it usually was at night. But still, there was something funny… That's when Skye saw it. Ace's door was open, and there was a splatter of red on the stone wall next to the door.

"There!" Riku whispered, seeing it at the same time she did. They ran towards it, and as soon as they were able to see the floor in front of Ace's room, Riku skidded to a stop, shocked into paralysis for a moment, and Skye let out a slight scream, picking up pace. She dropped to her knees next to the crumpled body, her eyes stinging with tears. Ace's blue eyes stared up at her from the pained face, blank and lifeless. And next to his body on the ground was a spear, soaked in blood and water.


	17. Chapter 17: Sacrifice, By Fire or Water

**Chapter 17: Sacrifice, By Fire or Water**

Ace woke up with a start, hearing a strange snap. He sat up. Everything was dark, with only the starlight pouring into his room as was usual. Then there was a slam. His eyes went to his closed bedroom door, just beyond which the noise had come. He crept up to the doorway and pulled it open barely a crack. Beyond, everything looked as it should…except that his door was open, the sunlight pouring in. _Strange, I locked it. So no one broke in…_ he thought slowly. Then it occurred to him that whoever it was must have been inside and wanting out. But who was in his room? He stepped into the living room and cast his eyes around for his dagger. Of course it was gone. He sighed, and then stepped into a wet spot on the carpet. He made a face a looked down. _Water… Dax!_ He walked out into the light, more assured that the intruder wasn't an enemy. Just outside his room were two cloaked men. Ace crossed his arms.

"What are you doing?" He hissed. Dax pulled back his hood and glared at him.

"I'm taking this thorn out of my side." He answered, motioning to the City around him. Ace frowned.

"I said I needed warning! I can't just barge into Skye's room and convince her to come with me in the dead of night!" He said angrily. Dax shook his head, smirking.

"You know, they say that love is blind." He said slowly. Ace blinked. What did that have to do with _anything_? Dax looked him in the eyes. "They were wrong, I think. Jealousy is blind." There was a long silence.

"What was that supposed to mean?" Ace asked, exasperated.

"It means you're jealous of Riku and it's made you blind and stupid." Dax replied simply.

"I'm not stupid!" Ace said defensively. Dax sneered.

"Really? You showed me the way into the Rebel City in exchange for a promise that you had faith I'd keep. Come now, you've spent enough years on the street to know that you should trust no one. Especially me. Now, are you going to get in my way?"

"Just give me a few minutes! All I want is to get Skye and me out of here!"

"See? You _are_ stupid." Dax said shortly. Ace seethed silently. Dax smirked. "I'll let you in on a little secret. I don't care what happens to this rebellion. Let it live if it wants. Skye's the only one I care about. She's the one I want. She'll be my sacrifice; by fire or water, she'll die."

"HOW DARRRRAAAAAHHHHH!" Ace began to reply with a shout, but a splitting pain in the back of his head sent him reeling, his words becoming a cry. Rio was standing behind him, Ace's own dagger, now covered in blood, in his hand. Ace hit the wall and leaned against it for balance, his hands going up to the back of his head. Dax glowered at him and drew a small circle in the air with his finger. Within that circle, a long, thin dart of water gathered. Without any warning, it shot forward, solidifying into wood as it whistled momentarily through the air before it hit Ace square in the chest. His face twisted into a look of absolute rage and then he collapsed to the floor, leaving a splatter of dark red on the wall behind him. Dax nodded to Rio, and they disappeared down the ramp to look for Skye. It hadn't been long when they heard a short scream from just above them.

………………………………

Skye and Riku were sitting next to the body of Ace, knowing full well that there was nothing anyone could do. Skye bowed her head.

"Go get Jade and Lodi." She muttered, choked. Riku started to stand up, but paused putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" He asked. There was a long silence.

"…not really. But I'll live."

"Aw, so sad. Like losing a brother, isn't it?" A cold voice asked mockingly. Riku stopped and turned around. Skye looked up and saw Dax standing a short distance away from her.

"Not at all. I'd love to lose you, brother." She answered as she stood, putting an icy emphasis on the term 'brother'.

"That's not a nice thing to say, little sis." Dax answered, feigning hurt. If looks could kill, Dax would have been dead in an instant as Skye glared at him. Flames danced on her finger tips in her anger. Then, a funnel of fire shot towards him. He lifted his hand and a thick wall of water blocked the attack. "Now, now, don't be so hasty to get so angry. You should be happy he's been silenced, so that he won't give away any more of your secrets." Dax said cruelly

"What are you talking about?" Riku asked, gripping his sword, the Way to the Dawn. Dax chuckled mirthlessly.

"You haven't guessed? Ace was terribly jealous of you, Riku. He wanted me to 'deal' with you in exchange for giving me access to the Rebel City. And you, Skye. He was worried about you, thinking that you were a danger to yourself. So he told me everything he knew about your magic. He essentially rendered your magic useless against me." He explained, loving the look of horror that passed across her face as he spoke.

"You're…you're lying…" she said, though she knew it was true and she certainly didn't speak very forcefully.

"No, see, you know I'm not. And now that you know it's useless to fight, be a good girl and stay here. Leave your friends to sleep and they'll be given the peace of dieing painlessly in their dreams. I'm afraid that you won't be so lucky though." As he spoke, he let out another forced laugh and started back down the ramp. A split second later, Riku had maneuvered himself in front of Dax, holding his weapon up in front of him.

"If you want to go anywhere, you're going through me." He said, his voice deadly quiet. Dax glared at him.

"Do you actually think you can defeat me? I'm nearly as powerful as my father." He said, obviously boasting.

"In that case, it should be a piece of cake." Riku answered, smirking. Dax lashed out at him, angry with Riku's stab at both him and his father. The noise had drawn Lodi and Jade now, who ran towards them as Lodi tossed Skye a stave with curved blades attached to either end. She caught it and spun towards Dax, swiping at his head. Dax noticed the attack just on time and lunged out of the way. Rio, who had gone ahead of Dax to 'secure the gate', came running up the ramp behind Riku. Skye smirked.

"Didn't you know? Riku's best friend is the one who killed Ansem." She asked, stabbing at Dax again. Dax side stepped it and drew his own sword, blocking the attack as she gracefully flipped the stave and brought it down on his head.

"Please, you expect me to believe that?" He asked incredulously. He stabbed out at her and she spun out of the way, pivoting on her heel, swinging her stave full circle and intending to catch Dax's back, though he was able to block it. Meanwhile, Riku was fighting with Rio, who clearly wasn't much of a fighter. He would have been in way over his head with Sora's swordsmanship back when Riku was the better of the two; these days, the pair was pretty evenly matched, but could be guaranteed to outfight anyone else on the Islands. Riku caught him in the side and he collapsed, already exhausted from exertion. Lodi arrived a moment later and took to guarding Rio while Riku went to help Skye fight Dax. Venus burst out of her room, shouting, terrified.

"There's an army on our doorstep! They're everywhere!" She cried, before seeing the fight occurring in front of her. Jade was assessing Ace, with a pained look on her face. Mars came running out of his room a moment later and sounded the alarm. Barely a moment later, shouts were heard from below.

"Go with the soldiers and take care of them outside!" Lodi hollered. Mars nodded, racing down the ramp, but Venus hesitated. Then, reaching out with her magic, she drew the walls of the mountain out, cornering Dax. Dax, in turn, saw this and swore under his breath.

"Forget the City! But if I go down, I'll take that stupid village with me!" He shouted, before calling up a portal of water and disappearing into it. Venus gasped.

"I'm going to warn the villagers!" She cried. Lodi nodded his assent and she sunk into the ground. A moment later, she reappeared out of the ground in the middle of the empty marketplace. "EVERYONE GET UP! WE HAVE TO LEAVE!" she shouted. She spotted a lone figure down by the docks, with raised arms, and then saw the ocean's surface swell. A few windows lit, and a few faces appeared in doorways, looking angry as being disturbed. Venus waved her arms at them. "EVERYONE GET TO HIGH GROUND! DAX IS FLOODING THE VILLAGE!" She cried desperately. At this, all faces turned to panic and people began to gather the few belongings that they could before running for the mountains, with their families in tow. Skye appeared next to her, and, spotting Dax, spoke hurriedly.

"Get everyone out of here. I don't know if I'll be able to hold him off for long." She said quickly, raising her stave and racing towards the figure on the docks.

Riku watched helplessly as Skye disappeared in an instantaneous flame, to chase Dax to the village. He ran for the ramp, but Jade caught his arm. He pulled away, thinking she was going to tell him not to follow, but instead, she pointed.

"Take the elevator. Much faster." She said quickly. Riku nodded his thanks and did as he was told. The elevator went achingly slow, to the point where he nearly considered jumping. He was thoroughly tempted to slap himself for the stupidity of the thought. Finally, it reached the ground and he ran through the entrance hallway where Mars was waiting to let the soldiers out. Riku ducked through the doorway as it opened, and ran down the dirt pathway towards the village. _Those soldiers don't have much of an army to fight._ He thought, surprised at the few numbers left, and those that were, were scattering with their comrades. A moment later, he saw why; a massive wall of fire had been erected through the center of the village, holding off an even bigger tidal wave that was gathering in the ocean, slamming itself against portions of the wall every few moments. A steady flow of villagers were running up the dirt trail towards him, from in the village, with Venus standing a distance down the trail, helping the villagers. There were still way too many villagers left in the port town. He knew they wouldn't get out before Skye's wall of fire collapsed at the force of the wave. He stared at the wavering flames. _Our destinies are supposed to be intertwined…this can't happen. She can't die without me…_

………………………………………………

Skye reached the docks on time to see the tidal wave that Dax was conjuring form a white crest. A trail of flames snaked out from her on either side of her, spreading out across the ground, before bursting up to form a wall just on time to block the first barrage from the tidal wave. Dax turned around to face her.

"You can't win." He said simply.

"You'd like me to believe that." She answered coldly, swinging her stave. The tidal wave slammed into her wall of fire again. She moved the wall a few feet back away from the docks. The further from the docks, the less power the tidal waves would have against her. The wave hit again, in time with Dax lunging at her with his sword. She stepped out of the way, knocking the blade aside and spinning to face him. He cut down at her, as the tidal wave slammed downwards on her wall. She blocked both attacks. Dax's magic attacks mirrored his physical ones. She wasn't too sure if that was good or bad; she could read his moves and so knew what was coming and when, but at the same time, it meant that she had to defend against both at the same time, and thanks to Ace, Dax knew where, when and how to hit her. The wall fell back again and Dax smirked.

"Weakening so much already?" He asked, swinging at her. The tidal wave slammed into the wall of fire again. She blocked it by bringing one blade on her stave down on the sword, knocking the end to the ground, and then counter-attacked by continuing the swing and sweeping the other blade down at his head. He ducked out of the way and stabbed at her leg. She barely sidestepped it, and the tidal wave hit a weak spot, sending her stumbling backwards. Her wall of fire reeled, wavering for a long moment. A tongue of flames shot out from the wall, burying itself in the heart of the tidal wave and creating a block in the flow of water in the process. The wave shrunk distinctly. Dax growled and it grew back to full size, plus some. This time, when it hit her wall, it was tall enough that water began to pour down the other side, beginning the flood of the village. Skye took a step backwards, gathered more strength and lifted the top of the wall. She extinguished the 'sun' inside the mountain so that she could draw on that strength as well. She knew she was at a disadvantage in this fight: despite the fact that her training evened the playing field in that Dax knew how to attack her, the fact that he had the ocean at his disposal and she had to conjure fire out of thin air made it harder on her. A wall of earth rose up behind Skye's wall of fire. Venus and Mars were lending their two cents too. The momentary distraction was all that Skye needed. Dax had to do a double take when he saw the earth rising up to back Skye, and Skye threw her stave at him. The blade ripped into his chest. He dropped his sword and fell to his knees. He shot her a look of pure hatred and poured every last drop of energy into his attack. She'd never be able to hold it off; he was giving his life to it, since her attack would most likely kill him anyways. She dropped her wall, and attacked Dax with all her power, depending on Venus and Mars for that momentary defense she needed to kill Dax so his attack would be stopped. His prone body burst into flames, charring in a matter of moments. The attack, however, didn't stop. The earth wall burst within seconds under the pressure of the water. Skye found her self inside a hollow of water as it seemed that the entire ocean was emptying itself into the village. With that kind of force, it wasn't going to stop there. Everyone in the City, including the villagers who had taken refuge there, would be drowned. So, she reached inside her and drew of every ounce of strength she had. With that, her own body burst into flames. It wasn't like being enveloped in the fire as was usual. Her entire being was burning, and she leapt into the air, fire shooting out from her arms to block the water. She hung in the air, using her own body as the barrier between the tidal wave and the City. The village couldn't be saved, but the villagers' lives could. She didn't know it at the time, but everyone else believed that she had lived up to her nickname: phoenix.

Riku let out a choked cry when the wall of fire disappeared. _What happened?_ He wondered, taking a step forward inadvertently, as if being that step closer would allow him to see her. The earthen wall burst and all that anyone could see for a long moment was water. Children began to wail at the sight of their homes disappearing under the endless force of the ocean. Venus swallowed hard. She could see that the wave wouldn't stop at the village.

"E-everyone get inside!" She ordered hoarsely. No one listened. There wasn't any hope of getting everyone inside on time now, and the group was too horrified at seeing their homes being destroyed to do much of anything. Then, the water lit up from underneath with a golden glow. A split second later, the tidal wave was stopped by what looked like a great phoenix bursting out from under the water and holding the wave off with its wings. Jade came running out with Gaden on her heels, with the intent of helping any injured villagers, but stopped dead at the sight of the great phoenix. Gaden choked back a sob.

"SKYE!" He shouted, before taking off towards the village. Riku and Jade both instantly ran after him. "Skye! Not both of my big sisters! No!" He shouted, racing down the path. The tidal wave was losing power, but apparently so was the phoenix. The flames burnt out and what was left of the waves flowed through the streets. Gaden ran into the village, up to his knees in water. That gave Riku the chance to catch up with him. He caught the boy and hoisted him up into his arms. Gaden let out a sob. Riku didn't ask him what was wrong. He already knew. Something was wrong with Skye. He ran through the streets toward the market. He spotted her instantly. Her red habit was the only colour left in the village. She was lying on a small mound of land that was raised just above the water level. He ran over, putting Gaden down next to the mound and dropped to his knees next to her. He picked her limp body up carefully. She let out a long, pained moan.

"It hurts…" She buried her face in his shoulder, her breathing hitched with pain. Gaden splashed up to them, his face wet with sea water and tears. He put his small hands on her stomach. She drew in a sharp breath, her face contorted with pain, and then she relaxed visibly. Gaden crawled up into her lap, resting his back against Riku, and sniffled.

"She's okay now. She was burning on the inside, but I made it stop. But she's still broken, I couldn't fix it."

"Fix what?" Riku asked softly. Gaden rubbed his eyes.

"…I forget what it's called. Jade wanted me to remember all the names of stuff inside you, but I forget what it's called…It's right here." He said, putting his hands just below her belly button. Riku blinked. He wasn't exactly one to know about human anatomy. "The place where babies grow." Gaden added after a moment. There was silence for a long time as they were both lost in their thoughts, Riku cradling both the sleeping Skye and Gaden in his lap. Then something clicked in Riku's mind.

"Did you call Skye your big sister?" He asked. Gaden's face reddened and he didn't say anything. Riku tilted his head so he could look at the younger boy. "It's okay. You can tell me."

"…She's my big sister. Her mom and my mom both went with our daddy to the other planet. Her mom and my mom didn't know that they were both my daddy's girlfriends. Skye's mommy found out, and she got sick in her heart and died. My mommy died when I was born. And…and my other sister died too. I felt it when the water hit the town. She died, and I was scared that my other big sister was gonna die too…" At that, Gaden started crying. Riku felt like his heart was breaking for the kid, but he wasn't exactly sure of what to do. At a loss, all that came to his mind was a song he knew from the Islands. It was one of Kairi's favourites, and it had always struck him as sounding like a lullaby.

"Daisy, give yourself away  
Look up at the rain,  
The beautiful display  
Of power and surrender,  
Giving us today  
And she gives herself away

Let it go  
Daisy, Let it go  
Open up your fist  
This fallen world  
Doesn't hold your interest  
It doesn't hold your soul  
Daisy, let it go

Daisy, why another day?  
Why another sunrise  
Who will take the blame  
For all redemptive motion  
And every rainy day  
When she gives herself away

Let it go  
Daisy, let it go  
Open up your fist  
This fallen world  
Doesn't hold your interest  
Doesn't hold your soul  
Daisy, let it go"

He looked down to find Gaden smiling at him appreciatively.

"Daisy is happy. You sang a song for her and she says thank you." He said quietly. Riku's confusion was written all over his face. Gaden let out a small laugh. "My sister's name was Daisy." He said quietly. Riku raised an eyebrow, impressed with himself for picking out the right song. Gaden got to his feet. "I have to go help Jade. Skye's gonna be okay, she'd just got to sleep a lot." He said with a smile before going splashing through the water, which, Riku noticed, was slowly receding. An emerald green eye cracked open.

"That was really sweet of you, Riku." Skye murmured, snuggling up against him. He blushed slightly as he held her closer, and found himself overcome with the feeling that everything was actually going to turn out okay.

……………………………………………

Tsk tsk, the end of this chappie ended up being way much more sappy than I had intended it to be. Anyweez! Wow, antimusicman! Good guess on Skye and Gaden being siblings! Wooooooow. I'm totally impressed. And no, it's not over! It's gonna keep going, this is not it for the plot, despite the fact that Dax is indeed dead. If you want a hint, check out exactly how it was that he died. You might be able to make a guess then ;) Anyways, make sure to review everyone!


	18. Chapter 18: A Broken Lock

Okay, I guess that there should be a warning. This chapter will contain a scene which some people might find a little bit offensive. Emma's been begging me for a lemon, and here it is. It's not a real lemon, but it's as close as I'll be getting. Okay? Right. Just a warning. It's not anything huge, I don't think it'll offend anybody, since this fic is rated T anyways. But just in case. Now, on with the show! And finally, the explanation you've all been craving of the 'broken lock' prophesy :D

**Chapter 18: A Broken Lock Can Be A Good Thing**

Riku carried Skye back up to the City, meeting Gaden and Jade on the way. As soon as Gaden saw them, he insisted on accompanying them back up to the City. Skye drifted in and out of consciousness over the trip. Riku laid her in bed and let out a long sigh.

"So, now that Skye's been injured, what's going to happen to me?" He asked, sitting down hard on the floor, leaving back against the wall. Gaden tilted his head to one side, looking lost.

"Why would something happen to you?" He asked slowly. Riku lifted his head and smiled.

"Back where I grew up, there were these fruits. They grew on trees, and they were _everywhere_. But only on the Islands. They don't grow anywhere else. And when you share one with someone you care about, your destinies intertwine, so you share the same fate. I shared one with Skye last time I was there." He answered. "She was worried something bad would happen to me that she wouldn't be able to do anything about, and I was worried that something like that would happen to her."

"But something bad still happened to her." Gaden said, climbing into Riku's lap. Riku ruffled Gaden's hair absently.

"I think, that if you hadn't been there to help her, she would have died." He said quietly, watching her slow breathing as she slept.

"I didn't want my only big sister left to die…I didn't even know where to find her in the town. How come you knew?" Gaden asked Riku curiously. Riku shrugged.

"I think it might have had something to do with her and me sharing a destiny now. I didn't know where I was going either, but fate just kind of…took me there."

"Oh." Gaden said, yawning." But I still don't get why something would happen to you."

"I'm just not sure whether us sharing destinies means that I'll be injured too. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. I don't really know."

…………………………………………

Skye stirred slowly, the sunlight pouring through the window waking her. She stretched, pointing her fingers and yawning. She let out a long breath and rolled over, smiling at the sight she held when she first opened her eyes. Riku was sitting against the wall, beneath the window. The sunlight touched the top of his head, giving the whole scene an almost angelic glow. He was sitting with his legs crossed, fast asleep, with his chin resting on Gaden's head and his arms still around the young boy in a hug. Gaden was just as fast asleep and curled up, leaning against Riku's chest. Skye lazed in bed, watching the two of them contently for a long time, though just how long she had no idea. Riku's eyes finally opened slowly, and he smiled when he saw her.

"You're awake."

"I am. I feel much better." She paused, an amused smile touching her lips. "Should I be jealous?" She asked, nodding to Gaden. Riku blinked, confused, and then rolled his eyes. He picked Gaden up and placed him on the bed next to Skye.

"You watch him. I'm going to take a shower. My back is killing me after sleeping like that." He said, grimacing as he practically hobbled off towards the bathroom. Gaden bounced up and down on the mattress for a moment before pouncing on Skye.

"I get to have my sister back!" He said in a sing-songy voice. Skye fell backwards onto her pillows, unprepared for the weight thrown at her. She rolled over onto her side and smiled at him.

"Can you talk to my mother?" She asked. He nodded quickly.

"And our father. But I don't think you want to talk to him…" He said, his words slowing as he finished. He frowned.

"What's wrong?' She asked. He shrugged.

"I can't contact him… Oh well. I don't want to talk to him anyways." He paused thoughtfully, trying to remember something. "Oh!" He nearly tumbled out of bed as he reached for a small pouch on the floor. "Jade gave me this. It's supposed to help fix you. You make tea with it." He said offering it to her. She smiled thankfully and took it before finally getting around to crawling out of bed. Skye walked out into the living room and leaned against the wall, listening to the ambient sound of the shower running, and watching the beginnings of movement in the rubble that was the remains of the village. She sighed, her guilt feeling like a ball forming in her gut. It was her fault that the village was destroyed. It was her fault that people were wandering through the rubble, looking for survivors and the bodies of their dead loved ones so that they could be given a proper burial. It was her fault that the village would have to be rebuilt, and she supposed that it would be the least she could do to help as much as she could, though nothing could be done to allow her to repay for their loss.

"It's not your fault." A voice said firmly behind her, followed by an enthusiastic 'yeah!' from Gaden. She hadn't even realized that she'd been speaking out loud. Riku slipped one arm around her waist. "You did everything you could. Most of the villagers were saved because of you. And you got rid of Dax."

"But at the cost of so many lives." She said quietly, her voice pained. He pulled her closer.

"Skye, if you hadn't done what you did, there would have been a massive war, and many, many more would be dead before it was over. And even then, Dax might have won."

"But if I'd held on just a little bit longer…"

"Listen to me. No one blames you. Dax did it, and you nearly died trying to stop him. This _isn't your fault_." Riku repeated, placing a hand on her shoulder and turning her around to face him so that he could look into her eyes as he spoke. She let out a sigh.

"…Still, I want to help them rebuild." She said, glancing back out over the wreckage. A smile passed over Riku's face.

"Then let's help them rebuild." He leaned over and scooped Gaden up into his arms. "And you're helping too, kid." He added, poking him. Gaden grinned.

"M'kay!" He wriggled out of Riku's grasp and ran out the door, shouting something incomprehensible to Jade once in the hallway. Riku stared after him.

"_Why_ does that kid _like_ work? I don't get it..." He said, in a state of disbelief.

"Not every kid is as lazy as you are, Riku." Skye teased. Riku smiled, pleased with himself for making her forget about feeling guilty.

……………………That night………………………

Riku was standing on the balcony, watching the little lights bobbing around in the village below; they were people carrying lanterns. He was wearing only a pair of cotton pajama pants, as he was entirely too lazy to be bothered to put anything else on. His hair was still damp, as he'd just gotten out of the shower. Skye was showering now. They'd spent the day doing hard labor in the village to prepare for rebuilding. Skye appeared in the doorway a moment later, yawning loudly.

"Riiikuuuuuuu…" Riku glanced at her, smiling, and then returned his attention to the little bobbing lanterns. She walked up behind him and put her arm around his waist. He, in turn, placed his arm around her shoulder. She tugged gently. "Come to bed." She said. He didn't budge.

"Tired?" He asked in reply instead. She yawned for her answer. He grinned. "If you're so tired, then go to bed. I'll come…later." He said slowly, really not feeling tired. He glanced down at her again. She was wearing one of his shirts, and it was long enough that it fell down to her knees and it didn't look like she was wearing much else. The top three or four buttons of said shirt were also undone, making her pout that much more…persuasive. He sighed, feigning reluctance. "Alright, I'll be in in a minute." Her expression changed instantly to a smug grin.

"Oh, you're making me twist you arm." She said sarcastically, giggling and disappearing back inside. She wandered into the bedroom and let out a long breath. Normally, Skye would have been marveling at the moonrise, or cooking up some plot for the Rebellion. Her mind was always full of such things, usually multiple of such things at once. Instead, however, she let her mind be blank as she crawled into bed after a long day of clearing debris and other such work. Her talents with fire had come in handy today, but it left her magically drained. Riku walked into the bedroom and flopped down on the bed with a satisfying thump. She propped herself up on her elbow and looked down at him. He had his hands behind his head and his eyes half closed.

"Night." She whispered, leaning down and planting a quick kiss on his lips. She started to pull away, but one of his arms wrapped around her shoulders and pulled her back down into a much more lingering kiss. She grinned when he allowed her to pull away. As soon as she was given the chance, she grabbed both of his wrists and wrestled them down above his head, pinning him. He cocked an eyebrow, as if in a dare. Her wicked grin widened in reply. He just continued to watch her with mild curiosity.

"Well? Now what?" He asked, waiting to see how she would use this advantage. She pursed her lips in thought and then smirked. She leaned down so that they were close enough that they were nearly kissing.

"Now?" She asked quietly. He parted his lips slightly as hers brushed against his, waiting for a kiss that wasn't coming. "I haven't decided yet." She whispered slowly. She let her body down slowly so that it was like a dead weight on his chest, and kissed a trail along his neck. His breathing hitched and she smiled to herself, well aware of what she was doing to him. With lying down, however, she had removed the vast majority of the pressure on his wrists, so he slipped easily out of her grasp and, grabbing her shoulders, rolled over so he was on top of her. He smiled down at her as she pouted at him.

"Aww, how cute." He said, imitating her pout and, cupping one hand over her cheek, ran his thumb along her bottom lip. She just kept pouting. Not that she was upset. She didn't particularly mind this arrangement. Her hands wandered down to the buttons on her shirt and they were deftly undone in a matter of moments. Riku was trailing warm kisses along her collar bone and venturing lower all the time. She tugged at his pajama pants with her feet, which didn't so much succeed in removing them as getting both Riku and Skye completely tangled in them. Riku had to turn his attention away from her and more to unknotting his pants from their legs and the blankets. Skye decided to make it a little more challenging than it already was and started kissing his neck, nipping every few moments, which caused him to pause and then he seemed to have forgotten where he was in the process. He grabbed her shoulders and pushed her down.

"Stop." He ordered, kissing her hungrily. "We can't go any further until I get rid of these stupid things and you're making it harder." He finished, kissing her again. She grinned, tugging her legs out of the mass of cloth to make it easier for him.

"Oh, I know. I'm just such a terrible tease." She answered amusedly, toying with his hair. Riku finally freed himself with a boyish grin and she pulled him gently down to her and kissed him. It was long and sweet and slow, as if they had all the time in the world. Neither pulled away, despite lungs screaming for air. Skye found herself incapable of any coherent thought as her mind was focused completely on the burning sensations building inside of her. Riku leaned down to kiss her again, his own ragged breathing matching hers, with one hand passing through her hair while the other wandered over her body. One of her hands grasped her sheets so tightly that her knuckles were white, with the other arm around his neck, pulling him closer, and her finger nails digging into his back. And then… SLAM! Both froze in place, surprised. Riku rolled off of her and she sat up a little, pulling the blankets up around her to cover her lack of clothing.

"HELLO!" A muffled voice called, with the strangest lisp that Skye had ever in her life heard. She frowned, not terribly interested in being particularly polite to whomever it was that 'interrupted' them. There was another slam, followed by the angry voice of Venus. Another voice followed shortly after, apparently already engaged in an argument with Jade as they arrived. Another pair of voices joined those a few moments after that, Mars' and a female voice, sounding as if they were trying to calm the other arguments. Skye and Riku were able to catch a few snippets of the arguments.

"…just let us explain…!"

"You broke…!"

"…lock of stone…!"

"We were just looking for…"

"…lucky we didn't…!"

"…if you'd just stop…"

"…argue with a DUCK!"

Riku snatched a towel off the floor and wrapped it around his waist. Skye stood up and wrapped the blanket from the bed around her body. They opened the bedroom door and stepped out into the living room. All movement and sound stopped. Everyone stared at them. There was a long silence, and then the short, white, crabby-looking duck began to shout.

"You're the ones we've been looking for! What do you think you're doing, just running off with no explanation! You're lucky the King knew where Dawn's Oceans was, or…"

"Donald." Riku interrupted him irritably. "Shut up." He looked up at the others; Sora, Kairi and Goofy. "Look, it's great to see you guys and all, but this is kind of a bad time to be barging in here."

"Thanks for the welcome committee." Sora said, crossing his arms and glaring at Venus.

"That's what you get when you show up in the middle of the night." Skye answered.

"You know Sora, you could have just explained yourself." Kairi said. She and Mars had been trying to calm everyone down, though their efforts had been rather unsuccessful.

"They broke the lock!" Venus cried. It took Skye a long moment in her groggy state of mind to realize that she was talking about the lock that Venus opens to let you into the Rebel City. Sora glowered at her.

"Oh come on! Who makes a lock that breaks as soon as you open it!"

"Well, who carries around a key that's bigger than they are! Seriously! Besides, that lock wasn't supposed to be unlocked with a key!"

"What kind of a lock isn't supposed to be unlocked with a key! I mean, locks and keys kind of go together. I thought that was a given!"

"Stop arguing!" Mars ordered. Both Sora and Venus did as they were told, and proceeded to sulk like little children about being yelled at. Riku's jaw dropped, only having realized just then exactly what had happened. He'd been feeling as if this was all a hazy dream in which his two worlds had collided and weren't fitting together very well. It hadn't occurred to him until just then that this was real, and that it was a big deal. And from the look on Skye's face, she was feeling the same way he was, though it was her who gathered her wits first and spoke.

"Wait, Sora and Kairi! What's going on? How did you guys get here? And why are you here? And why are you in our room?" She asked, stepping towards them. She was walking towards Kairi and stepped on the edge of the sheet covering her, nearly tugging it off and falling flat on her face in the process. Kairi giggled helplessly and helped her to her feet.

"Umm, did we interrupt something?" She asked. Skye grinned sheepishly and Riku chuckled awkwardly.

"Maybe a little." He admitted after a moment. Kairi smirked.

"And here we didn't even know that you two had even admitted your feelings for each other until the last night you were on the Islands." She said in a mocking accusatory tone.

"We would have told you more, but being kidnapped kind of hinders that a little…" Skye answered. "So, I think me and Riku need to go put some clothes on and then we'll have a chat. I'm not so keen on standing here with a blanket and little else…"

"At least you have a blanket." Riku answered, looking down at the towel wrapped around his waist that was suddenly seeming very small. Sora glanced uncomfortably at the doorway, where both Venus and Jade were standing with their arms crossed. Lodi appeared behind them and Sora started, displeased at the appearance of someone who seemed to be yet another who would beat him up for breaking the lock.

"Who are you?"

"Call me Lodi. And just who are you?"

"HE BR-!" Venus began furiously. Sora interrupted her at a shout.

"IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!" Just then, a small yawn from behind Venus drew everyone's attention.

"Wassseverybudydoin?" A very tired Gaden asked, rubbing his eyes as he walked into the room. He blinked at Skye. "Whadhappened t'yer pajamas…?" He asked, blinking at Skye in her blanket, and then at Riku with his towel. Skye nudged him towards Kairi, in a hurry to change the subject.

"This is Kairi, and that's Sora. Our friends from Destiny Islands. Do you remember me telling you about them?" Gaden nodded and Skye continued. "Alright, you talk to them for a while okay?" She said before hurrying into her room, dragging a momentarily disoriented Riku behind her.

………………………………………………

I'm sooooo sorry that this took so long! I just got my first job, full time and it's KILLING me. Plus any free time that I've had for the past few weeks has been eaten up by world of warcraft. I'm aware that I'm a huge nerd, you don't need to tell me XP Hopefully the updates will come a little sooner from now on…eeep! Review everybody!


	19. Chapter 19: The Grand Adventure

Hey everybody! I'm really sorry that this update took so long! This chapter was almost finished on my old laptop, and then it died, so I lost all my work :( I now have a new laptop, so please pardon any kinks in the layout of this chappie as I am still getting used to the ins and outs of OpenOffice! That's about all I have to say, so on with the show!

**Chapter 19: Sora and Kairi's Grand Adventure**

Sora and Kairi came racing down the street towards Grandma Rose's house. The others were already all there waiting for them. Selphie spotted them first.

"Did you find them!" She asked, looking back and forth for them.

"Yes! I mean no!" Sora announced. He then looked completely confused. "We found them, but now they're gone..." He said slowly. Lulu looked unimpressed.

"What do you mean they're _gone_?" She asked. Kairi shrugged.

"Well, one minute they were there, and the next minute they weren't." She explained slowly. Wakka shook his head.

"You sure you're alright Kairi? That's impossible, ya?"

"I was there too. One minute they were right behind us, the next minute they're gone. But at least they're okay. I think they went back to deal with that guy that kidnapped Skye." Sora said. Kairi nodded.

"Yep. Sounds like that Dax guy made a real mess of things, from what they said."

"Well, then tell us what they said." Irvine urged, looking anxious.

"Umm, okay. Skye was kidnapped by Dax, because he wanted her to be a sacrifice. They caught Riku when he jumped through the portal after them, and they tried to use him against her to make her do what Dax wanted. Then there was a bunch of escaping and recapturing... I can't remember, it was really confusing. Anyway, it ended up that Skye was caught and Riku was free, and he found a bunch of Skye's old friends and they went and helped her escape. Then they all went to a place called the Rebel City, and then Skye and Riku came back here to let us know that they were okay. And... then they left again to go deal with Dax" Kairi said, seemingly all in one long breath.

"Dawn's Oceans..." Sora muttered. "Dawn's Oceans..." He repeated, turning the idea over in his head. The others looked worried.

"But what if something happens to them when they go after him?" Selphie asked uncertainly.

"I'm going after them." Sora stated. There was a long silence.

"...What...?"

"I know where they are, and there's safety in numbers. If I can drag Donald and Goofy along with me, there'll be five of us instead of only two of them to take on Dax and his Heartless. Besides, after everything that's happened, we could take on an army of Shadows with our eyes closed." He said smugly. Kairi nudged him.

"Well, don't actually close your eyes." She warned. Sora grinned.

"Duh. I'm going to see when Donald and Goofy can come with the gummiship. I'll see you guys tomorrow morning." He said, waving and walking back towards his house.

---------------------------------------------------------------

A dull roar and loud splash greeted Kairi as she approached Sora, who was standing on the beach, watching as the gummiship splashed down onto the water. Sora had gone to say his goodbyes to everyone a little earlier, and Kairi had come to see him off. Sora offered her a quick kiss as the gummiship beached itself and Donald and Goofy came out.

"I'll be back soon." He said. Kairi nodded, keeping her own thoughts to herself. Sora greeted his friends and boarded the gummiship. It took off and Sora looked down at the beach, intending to wave to Kairi, but she was gone. He sighed a little in disappointment. Goofy and Donald were both looking at him with expressions that demanded an explanation.

"Skye and Riku disappeared to go fight Dax. They're on a planet called Dawn's Oceans and I was hoping that you guys might know where that is."

"Can't say I do." Donald answered. "But the King might."

"Can we go see him then?" Sora asked, sounding a little more hopeful.

"Hyuck! Of course! The King was thinking about summoning you soon anyways, if things got out of hand." Goofy answered.

"Out of hand?" Sora questioned.

"Yeh, there's been lots of Heartless running around on this one certain planet... what was it? Started with a 'd'..." Goofy said slowly, his voice trailing off in thought.

"_That's_ Dawn's Oceans!" Donald answered, clearly exasperated.

"Oh...right."

"Wow, the Heartless there must be worse than Riku and Skye let on..." Sora said thoughtfully. "We'd better hurry."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Welcome back!" Minnie greeted Donald and Goofy as they got off the gummiship. "And you must be Sora. It's a pleasure to finally meet you." She said a little more formally, curtsying. Sora blinked awkwardly, having no idea what to do.

"Uhh, likewise." He said finally, bowing quickly. Goofy looked like he was trying to keep from laughing and Donald looked utterly humiliated at Sora's complete lack of grace. Minnie smiled, amused, and motioned for them to follow her.

"The King is waiting in the library to meet us. He's very interested in what you have to say."

After Sora related the story everything that had happened since Skye's arrival on the Islands, the King explained that he had been keeping a close eye on Dawn's Oceans since the Door had been closed. After the events at the End of the World, the numbers of Heartless slowly reduced as Sora fought off the last of their kind in his search for Riku. By the time the two boys had found each other and returned to the Islands, the numbers of Heartless left of any planet were of no concern. Except for on Dawn's Oceans. The numbers of Heartless there had maintained itself, fluctuating occasionally, but neither decreasing nor increasing. Mickey kept his eye on the Heartless of that planet, taking care to ensure that their numbers never grew by any significant amount.

"After hearing your story, I'm beginning to see why the Heartless have always had a significant presence on that planet... I never knew that Ansem had a son..." Just then, the doors to the library burst open, with Chip and Dale scurrying in, followed closely by...

"Kairi!" Sora asked, surprised. Kairi grinned sheepishly.

"I guess this makes me a stow-away." She admitted. Chip and Dale ignored them and spoke instead to the King.

"Dawn's Oceans!" Chip cried, out of breath.

"Heartless!" Dale shouted at the same time.

"What's wrong!" Sora asked, looking stricken. Kairi didn't quite understand what the worry was, not having heard the conversation beforehand.

"Your Majesty! Sora!" Chip said, breathless. "We've been watching the numbers of Heartless on Dawn's Oceans, as the King requested."

"Their numbers just skyrocketed!" Dale finished. Sora blanched. The King looked grave.

"Sora, Donald, Goofy, I need you to go and if I understand you correctly, you wish to go also." He said, addressing Sora. Sora nodded in reply.

"Hold it!" Kairi said, holding up her hand. "I'm not going to get left behind again. There's no way I'm staying here while you go after them." She said, looking sternly at Sora. Sora took a deep breath, only just realizing then that he'd been holding his breath.

"I don't want anything to happen..."

"I stowed away this far, and you can't make me stay behind." She announced stubbornly. Sora nodded.

"I still don't like it, but I can't really expect you to stay behind." He admitted. She looked taken aback by his words, but then she smiled and walked over to stand beside him.

"We'd better go." Goofy noted. "Your friends are probably in trouble if there's all those Heartless around."

"Is there anything else we need to know before we leave?" Kairi asked.

"I'm sure there is, but I've told you everything I know. Just be prepared for the unexpected." King Mickey answered. "Chip and Dale, program Dawn's Oceans' location into their gummiship."

"Yes sir!" Came the unified reply from the chipmunks. The pair scampered out of the library, with Donald, Goofy, Sora and Kairi following behind. They reached the gummi hangar and took off with few problems, Chip and Dale wishing them good luck as they left.

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The gummiship landed in a the smoldering remains of a farming field. The ocean's shore shimmered on the horizon, lit by the moonlight. There was a mountain range not far off and a pile of wet, waterlogged wood that looked like it used to be a village. It was near dawn. There was mass destruction evident all around them, for as far as the eye could see. Off in the distance, there were random patches of light, lanterns bobbing around. Not that the small group new it, but those were the remains of Dax's army, fleeing the Phoenix after having seen most of their comrades destroyed by either the flood or the ensuing flames. Sora looked around.

"You think we're too late?" He asked.

"I hope not." Kairi answered. The moon disappeared as the sun rose over the mountains.

"You think there's anyone in the farmhouse?"Goofy asked. Donald shrugged.

"Let's go see." He said, motioning for the others to follow. The door was barely hanging on its hinges and when Sora tried to open the door, it fell completely away from its frame. The inside was ransacked. Anything of value had been stolen, and tables and chairs were overturned. There was evidence of a fight. Someone had resisted the invaders. In another room, Kairi found a bed on its side. The blankets had all fallen off and were sitting in a ball on the floor. The mattress was torn to shreds, and stained with blood. She let out a cry and jumped back with the blanket moved. Sora's face appeared in the doorway a moment later.

"What's wrong?" He asked. But she wasn't listening. The blanket had fallen away to reveal the terrified face of a woman. Her own clothes were stained red, and she was cradling the body of a man Kairi feared to be dead.

"Who...you're not soldiers..." She said weakly. Kairi shook her head.

"What happened here?" She asked in reply. Sora disappeared for a moment.

"The soldiers came. There was an army of them. They tried to arrest us and..." the woman stopped, choking back tears, looking desperately down at the man in her arms. Sora returned, this time with Donald in tow. They walked up to the woman, and she pulled away, suspicious of them.

"We want to help." He said sincerely. "Donald is a healer. We want to see what we can do to help you." He said. The woman smiled bitterly.

"There's nothing you can do for us now." She answered. "There's only one thing... are you part of the Resistance?"

"I...well... sort of. We're on our way to the Rebel City." _We just have to find it first._ Kairi assured the woman, though she wasn't feeling so reassured herself.

"Make sure that my daughters made it. We sent them out just before the army reached us. Make sure they reached the Rebel City."

"What are their names?"

"Kayla and Annika." The woman smiled and rested her head against the upturned mattress. She looked like she'd fallen asleep. Kairi and Sora bowed their heads. Donald cast a short series of gravity spells, so that the bed was turned back upright and the couple was laid on it, looking peaceful as the dawn sunlight poured through the window. The small group were silent for a moment before leaving the farmhouse. They stood out in the doorway and looked both ways down the dirt road. In one direction, the wrecked town. In the other, fields and forest for as far as the eye could see.

"Where do we go?" Kairi asked after a long silence.

"We can go that way and hope that there's another town within walking distance, or we can head towards the wrecked village, where we _know_ that there's nobody who can help us." Sora answered, making it clear where he wanted to go.

"Wait!" Goofy said, pointing at the wreckage. "There's people!" Indeed, upon taking a closer look, there were figures moving about the ruins. They headed towards the town, knowing that it would be a good while before they reached it. As they approached the village, nearing noon, they encountered a small group of armed men and women standing along the road. Once one of the guards spotted the group, he signaled to his comrades and they were all on their feet, approaching Sora, Kairi, Donald and Goofy with weapons out, looking suspicious of the newcomers.

"Who are you?" An older man asked.

"What happened to the village?" Sora asked in reply.

"Flood." the man replied tersely. Kairi nudged Sora.

"They're from the resistance." She noted. Sora nodded. He was thinking the same thing.

"Is Skye here?" Sora asked. Suddenly all the guards were on edge.

"Who wants to know?" The man asked, brandishing his sword.

"I do." Sora answered dumbly. Kairi let out an amused sigh and answered for him.

"This is Sora, and I'm Kairi. We're from the Destiny Islands. These two are Goofy and Donald, a knight and a mage from Disney Castle."

"I don't trust royalty." The man answered, glaring at Donald and Goofy. Sora grunted in exasperation. The man shook his head. "And anyway, the ruins are dangerous for travelers. There are no ships coming to or going from port for at least a week. Head east and you'll find another port town there. Though whether the ships will be sailing from anywhere is a matter of when news reaches...ung" The man tried to explain, but a younger woman elbowed him in the middle of his sentence.

"Look, there was a flood so we're fixing it, which means its dangerous for travelers. Now get out of here." She said gruffly. Kairi touched Sora's arm.

"Let's go." She murmured. "We know where the Rebel City is now. We'll come back later." Sora nodded and walked away, motioning for the others to follow him. Once they were out of earshot of the guards, Sora glanced over his shoulder.

"Wait until nightfall and we'll sneak in." He said simply.

"Why?" Goofy asked.

"The Rebel City is there." Kairi answered. "But what if the guards are still there?" She asked.

"How do you know that's where the Rebel City is?" Donald asked at the same time.

"There are guards there and there's no way that they're standing around making sure that the likes of us don't wander into a flooded village. They've got something to protect. And besides, that woman wouldn't have sent her daughters to the Rebel City if it was far from the farm." Sora said to Donald. "And if the guards are still there, then we'll go around them. It's easier to sneak past them under cover of night."

Sora, Kairi, Donald and Goofy waited for nightfall under cover of trees, out of sight of the guards. Dusk passed and the stars started to come out. The small group followed the road for a short distance, until they saw that the guards were still on the road with a small camp fire burning. They left the road and walked through what was left of the farmer's fields, skirting around the guard post and entering the ruins of the town. There were handfuls of other people wandering through the wreckage, but none took any notice of the newcomers. They searched the ruins for some sign of an entrance to the Rebel City, but no matter how hard they searched, they couldn't find anything. The other people wandering the ruins began to disappear, but Sora, Kairi, Donald and Goofy couldn't see where they were disappearing to, though they did see a few of them leaving the town, presumably to go home to farms that hadn't been ransacked by the invaders. It was getting late, and all were getting tired.

"Let's find a place for the night on this side of the guard post. I don't want to have to sneak past them again." Kairi said.

"We can't stay in the village though." Sora noted.

"Caves?" Goofy suggested. The others blinked, unknowingly at him. "There're probably caves in the mountain. Maybe we could stay there." He explained. The reply was a resounding yes, and the group immediately began climbing the foothills. There was a surprisingly well-beaten path that passed by a series of caves in the mountainside, but each of them were too shallow for them to ensure that any guards wouldn't see them. Then, they came across a deeper one. There was a burnt out campfire already in the cave. It looked like people stopped here often.

"It looks like this place is pretty popular." Kairi noted.

"Let's stay here for the night." Sora agreed. Donald and Goofy began to set up camp and Sora wandered to the back of the cave, inspecting the pattern of cracks in the wall. It looked like somethin had shattered it. His Keyblade appeared in his hand for no reason.

"What the!" Sora felt the tug, and his Keyblade leveled itself with a glowing lock in the stone, formed out of the cracks. The others were all staring at him as the Keyblade unlocked the mysterious lock. There was a click, and Sora lowered his Keyblade, waiting for the door to open. Nothing happened.

"What was thaAH!" Kairi started to ask, but mid-sentence, the lock exploded, leaving a jagged archway in the stone with a hallway carved out of the other side.

"That was weird..." Sora noted. "You think this is the Rebel City?"

"Dunno. We'll see." Kairi answered, walking inside. Sora followed, with Donald and Goofy just behind them. They followed the hallway out into a large hollow in the center of the mountain.

"Wooooow." Donald muttered, looking around.

"Amazing..." Kairi agreed. "Do you think Skye and Riku would be here?"

"We'll see. Let's split up and search. Kairi, you go through there. Donald, you check this area. Goofy and me are going to go up there and look. Okay?"

"Right."

"Okay."

"Let's go!" And so began their search. Sora, Goofy and Donald began to climb the ramp. Donald checked any unlocked rooms along the ramp on the way up. Sora and Goofy went to the top, figuring that the important people in the Rebel City would be up there, and they'd know where Skye and Riku are, if the couple wasn't up there themselves. Kairi scanned the ground floor and then began her search of all the tunnels branching off. They reached the top, and Sora looked down over the edge, impressed by the height. Leaning over, he spotted a long girl walking across the ground far below.

"HEY KAIRI! DID YOU FIND ANYTHING?" He called. The figure looked up, and he saw pigtails. _That's not Kairi..._The figure pointed and shouted. Then, she seemed to sink into the solid stone. "Uh-oh! Looks like we're caught!" Sora cried, rushing towards the nearest door. Goofy stumbled along behind him, completely confused. Sora pulled on one door, and found it locked. He whipped out his keyblade and unlocked it in a flash. He and Goofy disappeared into the room just as the stone under their feet began to ripple. Venus emerged from the stone, and looked wildly around.

"Intruders!" She shouted furiously. "Someone's broken the lock!" She glanced around, and not seeing the invaders, she figured that they must have gone into one of the rooms. She tried the closest door. Locked, as she expected. She tried the next door, the door to Skye and Riku's room. Open, just like it shouldn't have been. She threw open the door and barged in furiously.

"Who are you and what do you want? And you'd better be honest or I'll make you a permanent part of this mountain!" She threatened. Sora spun around to face her, surprised.

"We don't mean any harm, we're looking for Skye and Riku!" He answered desperately. Venus' expression hardened.

"Yeh, and so is every other soldier and bounty hunter on the planet." She said, holding out her hands. The ground around Sora and Goofy began to ripple, and a moment later tendrils of rock burst out of the ground, trying to wrap themselves around their legs. Sora and Goofy fought them of with impressive precision, but they kept coming.

"Give. Us. A. Chance." Sora said between blows. The attacks relaxed a little, and then stopped completely, though there were still tendrils poking out of the carpet, poised to strike.

"You broke the lock." Venus accused. "Did you expect me not to know?"

"I didn't even know it was there! The Keyblade just does stuff like that sometimes..." Sora admitted, knowing full well that he sounded kind of stupid. Venus glowered at him.

"So it was you!" She shouted. At that moment, Donald burst into the room, shouting,

"HELLOOOOOO" He froze when he saw Sora and Goofy surrounded by the 'rock snakes' and Venus standing in front of them. Jade burst into the room after them. She'd been in the infirmaries below and heard the racket.

"Hey! Just what do you think you're doing!"

"GAH!" Donald cried out as Jade swiped at him with her fist.

"Hey! I didn't even do anything!" He shouted.

"You broke into the Rebel City! You should be dead on that spot for that!" She answered furiously.

"But we're telling the truth!" Sora broke in, angrily. Kairi and Mars, who had encountered each other in the tunnel, appeared in the doorway.

"Sora! What's going on!" Kairi asked. At that, all the arguments exploded again. A moment later, the door to the bedroom burst open, and out stepped Skye and Riku, neither wearing any clothes, with Skye wrapped in a blanket and Riku, a towel. There was a long silence...

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So there! I finally got this thing updated! Aren't you proud? Yes yes. Anyways, updates will come faster again now. Mkay? Okies! Review!


	20. Chapter 20: Broken Glass

Reaching chappie 20 is a momentous occasion. Be proud :) This is actually more like a 19 and a half ('cause it's short), but HEY! That's perfectly alright. Off we go!

**Chapter 20: Broken Glass**

Skye and Riku, each now fully clothed, listened intently to Sora and Kairi's story. The other Rebels stayed wary of the visitors, until Skye and Riku, in turn, related to them what had happened when they went back to the Islands. Kairi and Sora were now looking expectantly at Skye.

"So, are you going to explain what's going on?" Kairi asked eagerly.

"In the morning." Jade cut in. Everyone looked at her, mildly surprised. "It's late and we're all still recovering from last night." She explained before turning on her heel and walking out. Lodi nodded.

"Riku and Skye, you'll show them to the guest quarters?" He asked. Skye nodded, and slowly but surely, everyone else filed out. Skye and Riku lead the four others out of the room and towards the guest quarters.

"When did the Heartless numbers explode?" Skye asked, pondering what it could mean.

"Ummm... I dunno, probably about a day ago now..." Sora answered.

"I guess it would have been last night here." Kairi agreed. Riku opened the door and showed them in. Skye stayed quiet and thoughtful while he pointed out the parts of the apartment. When they left, Riku wrapped an arm around Skye, looking worriedly down at her.

"Are you okay?" He asked. Skye sighed.

"I guess. I just can't figure out what would have triggered so many Heartless. I mean, Dax is dead, that would decrease their numbers, if anything..." They reached their room and Skye wandered into the bathroom to brush her teeth before going off to bed again. Riku flopped down on the couch, waiting for her to be finished in the bathroom. Skye was standing in front of the sink, with her thoughts still on the problem at hand. She washed her mouth out and stared hard into the mirror. _Why, why, why? Dax is dead! I killed him myself! _Her thoughts returned to the moment. The water. The fire. Suddenly her eyes went wide. _It can't be..._she thought desperately.

Riku had his eyes closed on the couch, and was beginning to wonder what Skye could possibly be doing that was taking so long in the bathroom. She wasn't making any noise. He grinned and scolded himself silently for being so gutter-minded when he came up with his own ideas. Further moments passed... and then came the sound of Skye cursing loudly, followed immediately by a loud smashing sound. Riku started, surprised, and scrambled to his feet, running into the bathroom as quickly as he could. Skye was sitting on the floor, tears rolling freely down her cheeks. The mirror was broken and pieces were scattered all around her on the floor, and she was cradling her right hand with her left, blood running down the back of her hand from her cut knuckles. Riku dropped to his knees without thinking, cringing as a piece of glass cut through his jeans and into his knee. He ignored it, sitting down next to her, pulling her into his lap and cradling her carefully. She leaned limply against him, sobbing into his shoulder.

"What happened?" He asked gently. She didn't answer, only cried harder. "Come on, we need to get you to the infirmaries." He added, but she wouldn't move. "Skye..." He pulled a length of toilet paper of the roll and wrapped her bleeding hand with it, creating a make-shift bandage until he could get her to the infirmaries. Once that was finished, he pulled the small piece of glass out of his knee with a cringe and inspected the cut. It wasn't deep; it would have been much worse if he hadn't been wearing jeans. "Tell me what happened..." He whispered.

"It's my fault." She sobbed. He blinked.

"What? You mean the mirror? I don't care about the mirror: are you okay?" He answered, confused. She just shook her head, fresh tears emerging. "Skye, please, tell me what's wrong..."

They sat there for almost two hours, while he tried to coax an explanation out of her and she cried herself out. She caught sight of her injury, and saw that the toilet paper was soaked through.

"Infirmary?" She suggested quitely, her voice worn from sobbing.

"Come on." Riku answered, helping her to her feet. They walked down to the infirmaries together and got her properly cleaned up. Now, with her hand wrapped in real gauze, Riku tried again.

"What happened?"

"I...punched the mirror." She answered quietly. He stared at her. That was the last thing he'd ever expected her to do. Sure, her injuries had looked like those of someone who had hit glass, but it was so out of character... mind you, so was her shouting a string of loud profanities.

"Why? What's wrong?" He asked, even more worried than before. She just shook her head.

"In the morning." She said, trying to walk by him. He caught her arm.

"It is the morning." He replied, pointing to the window. The first rays of sunlight were showing themselves on the horizon. She shook her head again.

"After I get some more sleep." She said, a little forcefully.

"Skye, I've been up all night with you. I sat with you for _two hours_ in the bathroom and I get no sleep now because of it. I deserve an explanation!" He demanded. He could tell that, even if Skye didn't want to tell him, he was right, so she couldn't not. There was a long silence.

"I...I had to save the village, right?" She asked. Riku raised an eyebrow.

"What? Of course... oh, you're not still upset about not getting everyone out before the wave, are you?"

"No. Well, a little, but that's not what this is about."

"Then what is it about?"

"I...I guess I'm thoughtless, and it's ruined everything." She answered forlornly. "I don't want everyone to hate me for what happened... I was just trying to save the villagers..."

"Well what happened?" Riku asked, getting impatient.

"I burned Dax. To death." Skye said slowly.

"...so you feel guilty about it...?" He asked, confused. She shook her head.

"I...I only want to have to say this once. Let's get everyone else first."

Minutes later, Skye was standing before everyone; Riku, Lodi, Jade, Venus, Mars, Gaden, Sora, Kairi, Donald and Goofy. She cleared her throat.

"When I was fighting Dax, I injured him severely. When that happened, he poured all his magic into the tidal wave, so much that it would have killed him. He knew he was going to die, and he knew that I'd never be able to fight it off if he put that much power into it. I knew that too, so I tried to stopped his magic by killing him. I took the wall of fire down, and I put all my power into killing Dax. I burned him to death. It didn't work the way I planned, but that's not what's at hand here. Dax died of fire. That's why the number of Heartless skyrocketed. I made Dax into the sacrifice that he had wanted me to be. Ansem is back, and...and it's my fault..."

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Review! And not many more chapters left after this... wowie! Sorry it's so short, by the way :P


	21. Chapter 21: Bloodlines

**Chapter 21: Bloodlines**

"_Ansem is back...and it's my fault..."_

A long silence followed, making any movement echo through the Council Room. Sora leaned back in his chair so that it was balancing on the back legs.

"Well, the way I see it, Dax was living for Ansem, so no matter how he died, he would have died for Ansem." He answered. Jade nodded.

"At least this way we could have figured it out and now we know what's coming."

"Yah! Thanks to you, Ansem doesn't have the element of surprise anymore! Good job Skye!" Gaden said, clapping his hands. Riku was wearing an enormous grin.

"See, you've got nothing to worry about." He paused, glancing at the legs of Sora's chair. "Sora, on the other hand..." he said slowly. Sora blinked at him, confused. Riku let out a chuckle and kicked one of the chair legs. Sora let out a yelp, doing a complete 360 and falling flat on his back on the floor.

"Ow. Riku, you're mean." He announced as he got a hand up from Kairi. Skye crossed her arms, looking incredulous.

"I don't believe it..." She said quietly, shaking her head. "After what I did... you're thanking me?"

"After what you did? Skye, you gave us warning that Ansem was coming. Duh, of course we're thanking you." Sora answered. Gaden stood up.

"I wanna go to the village!" He announced.

"Right now?" Jade asked tiredly. Gaden nodded.

"Right now. I wanna go help the people some more!" He explained. Gaden had gone down to the village the day before and spoke with the mourners, acting as a medium between them and their loved ones.

"We need to talk about what we're going to do to prepare for Ansem's attack though." Lodi said. Kairi shrugged.

"I'll go with him then. Sora and Riku know plenty about Ansem. There's nothing I know that they don't, and the rest of you know more about the planet than I do, so I won't be of any particular help here. I can take Gaden to the village, and Sora can let me know what you guys decided with I get back, okay?" She offered. Jade smiled.

"You're wonderfully sweet to offer. Thanks very much. Have a nice time!" She called, waving as Kairi and Gaden left.

It was still early in the morning, but there were already many people wandering through the ruins, some mourners, but the majority workers who were preparing the land to being construction of the new town. Gaden spoke with each of the mourners, and Kairi just watched quietly, awed by the scene. Each and every person he spoke to seemed to be more at peace after they talked with him. Often, he would let the spirits speak through him, allowing the dead to possess his body for a short while so that they could speak to their still living loved ones. Kairi was surprised at how fearlessly he did so; it had to take courage to allow possession like that. Time passed quickly, and Sora joined them shortly after, as did Jade. At one point, Gaden wandered over to Kairi and looked up at her, though his eyes seemed out of focus, as if he were looking through her.

"Are you Kairi?" He asked. She nodded slowly.

"Of course..."

"Then you're close to Skye and Riku?" He pressed. Kairi nodded again, confused by the line of questions.

"Well yes, but why are you asking...?" She would have thought that he might have guessed that they were friends given how they acted together.

"Tell them that I'm sorry..." He murmured, looking down. Kairi opened her mouth to speak, but Gaden continued, looking suddenly up again. "I hope they can understand that I didn't mean it... Riku knows what it's like to be consumed by the darkness. Tell them that I wish them all the best, and I always did, no matter how I acted. Just make sure that Skye knows that I'm sorry. It'll mean a lot to her." He said quickly. Kairi stared at him, unable to find the right words for a long moment.

"But...why?" She asked, totally lost.

"Oh, by the way, my name's Torne, but the people around here call me Ace." And with that, Gaden went limp for a split second, stumbling forward and giving his head a quick shake. He shivered and then shrugged. "The dead are weird." He announced. Kairi blinked at him, deciding that anyone who made a statement like that was the weird one. Then, a new thought occurred to her.

"Gaden? Do you know of any refugees in the Rebel City named Kayla or Annika?"

"Sure, there's a girl named Annika in the infirmaries. I don't know of any Kayla though."

"Well, does Annika have any sisters?"

"She has a twin that visits her every day. Is that Kayla?"

"Probably."

"How do you know them?" Gaden asked as they wandered along the rubble-strewn beach. Kairi thought back to the woman in the house, and even just the thought brought tears to her eyes.

"I don't really want to talk about it." She admitted quietly. Gaden nodded with understanding. Kairi watched the waves crawl in and out along the beach, thinking. Her eyes followed the retreating water, and waited for it to return as it always does... but it kept going. The foamy shore continued to retreat, revealing sea bottom that had never before been exposed. She raised her eyes, concerned, and saw a twisting column of water reaching up towards the sky. Those other people on the beach had stopped to stare. Kairi barely registered that she heard Sora's voice behind her.

"Hey Kairi!" He stopped next to her, his eyes on the column, the same look of shock and confusion on his face that was on hers. "What's that...?" As he spoke, the column exploded, soaking everyone on the beach and breaking the trance that Kairi was in. She grabbed Gaden by the arm and pulled him behind her as Sora shouted for everyone to get back. An enormous, grotesque looking heartless shaped like a giant squid had emerged from within the now dissipated column of water. It swooped down, floating inches off the ground in front of Sora, Kairi and Gaden.

"Ha. Just who I was looking for." It said in a grating voice. Sora blinked, taken aback. Heartless don't _talk_.

"What do you want?" He asked in reply, his voice shaking a little. He wasn't so accustomed to holding a conversation with Heartless.

"You, the Master of the Keyblade. And her, your little Princess of Heart." It replied, pointing one tentacle at Kairi. "But most of all, I want you..." It said, speaking now to Gaden as it flicked out another tentacle, catching the young boy around the waist and lifting him above the ground, even as Kairi reached out to save him. "I want you and your half-sister. Your father would find the two of you most...useful." It said, letting out a cruel laugh that made Sora's skin crawl. Within seconds, a rope of flames whipped through the air, cutting clean through the tentacle holding Gaden up. He let out a cry as he fell, and both Kairi and Sora ran to catch him, though both knew that they were too far from him to make it in time. Instead, another massive fire burst into life below him and he fell into it.

"Gaden!" Kairi shouted, terrified at what might have happened to him. The fire disappeared, leaving Skye and Riku standing a distance in front of Sora and Kairi, close to the shore. Riku had his blade in one hand, and was putting Gaden down with the other, apparently having been the one who caught him. Skye had two rapiers in either hand.

"Perfect." The Heartless crackled. "All I have to do is ask and you just show up. And you brought the traitor with you." It stated, aiming its last comment at Riku, who in turn let out a growl. He lifted his hand, and a ball of shadow enveloped his hand. He flung it at the Heartless, and the tentacle that was hit went limp. "You see Riku? All I do is get you the slightest bit angry and you turn to darkness."

"Well you know what they say, fight fire with fire." He answered bluntly, sending another orb of darkness at it. This time, the Heartless was hit in the body, causing its whole being to tremble.

"I don't need to deal with this abuse. All Master wanted was to know where you were. And that you're together just makes it all the easier." At that, it dropped down into the water with a splash, disappearing in the depths. Skye looked worriedly at Riku.

"What was that?" She asked quietly.

"I don't know." He answered, staring at the now calm waters.

"No, I mean what you did. What was that?"

"Oh. Maybe I shouldn't have done it. I just thought... since he called me a traitor, I felt like I could use the power I used to have without succumbing to it... I shouldn't have. I never have before, I don't know why I did it now."

"It was tempting you to go back to the darkness. Even its presence was hard on you. It was a powerful Heartless, and it being here had an effect on you." Sora answered matter-of-factly.

"Then why isn't Skye affected by fire?" Riku asked, frustratedly.

"I am." She admitted. "I hear voices from the fire, and stronger than anyone else does. Most of the time I spent at the Shrine, I spent learning how to ignore them. They were what caused me to remember when I did." She offered him a smile. "But that doesn't change the fact that I still use my fire. If you learn to control you power... I don't see why you can't use them. We just have to be really careful, since darkness is so dangerous."

"Then it's settled. We fight water with fire and Heartless with their own shadow." Riku said, feeling more confident than before. Sora then took the chance to pipe up.

"Um, did that thing say that Gaden was it's Master's son?" He asked, looking warily at Gaden. Skye nodded.

"Gaden and I are Ansem's two surviving children. I killed Dax, my brother, and Dax killed Daisy, Gaden's sister, during the tidal wave."

"Ansem...had kids?" Kairi asked, gaping at them.

"That means you're looking at the royal heirs to the throne in Hollow Bastion." Riku stated, only making that connection for the first time himself.

"The royal Shadow Bloodline." Skye said, liking the sound of it.

"My shadow princess." Riku murmured, slipping one arm loosely around her waist and pulling her to him, kissing her lingeringly. Sora blinked in mild surprise.

"I'm still not used to seeing that."

-----------------------------------

Sorry the end sucks ; I was having issues... anyways, review plz!


	22. Chapter 22: Kidnapped

**Chapter 22: Kidnapped**

Skye, Riku and Gaden were all in Skye's bedroom. Gaden was bouncing on the bed, and Riku was sitting on the floor at the foot of the bed, both watching Skye intently. She, meanwhile, was inspecting her weapons for the attack on Ansem.

"So, how do we know that Ansem's actually going to be at the Fortress?" She asked, looking up.

"Why wouldn't he be?" Riku asked in reply.

"Because he knows that we know where he is."

"He doesn't consider us to be a threat, so he's not going to get up and move just because we know where he is."

"Um, how are we not a threat...? I mean, just you and Sora alone have already destroyed him..."

"Ansem refuses to believe that anyone could possibly rival him and his Heartless."

"He overestimates himself." She said, poking the tip of her dagger into the carpet. She watched it thoughtfully; the shadows danced across the steel blade in an almost impossible fashion. It wasn't until the tip was entirely bathed in black that Skye pulled her dagger from the carpet, scrambling backwards. Ribbons of shadow snaked out of the ground towards her. Riku jumped to his feet to help her when Gaden let out a cry: similar dark snakes were coiling around him. Riku reached for him and tried to pull him from the shadows' grip. Skye stabbed at one of the ones attacking her, but it wrapped itself around the blade and ripped it from her grip. She was on her feet in a matter of moments, backing up into the wall and stepping nimbly around the tendrils of shadow striking out at her. She made her way slowly towards the bed, grasping the hand of Gaden's that Riku wasn't already holding on to. Always keeping half an eye on the shadows snaking towards her feet, she and Riku tried desperately to free Gaden. Then she gasped:_ Of course! _Skye buried her hands in the shadows that had now completely enveloped Gaden's legs.

"Skye! What are you doing?" Riku asked, wide-eyed. She didn't answer, but a moment later, the shadow that had a hold on Gaden burst, sending blackened goop flying everywhere, flames exploding from within where Skye's hands were. Free from the shadows, Gaden was pulled from the bed by Riku and Skye threw more fire at the shadows to allow the three of them a clean getaway, only this time, her flames didn't have as drastic an effect.

"Run!" She ordered, skidding out of the bedroom after Riku and Gaden. Tentacles of shadow as thick as tree trunks shot out of the bedroom after them. They ran out into the hallway, pulling the door shut after them. Sora and Kairi were just on the other side of the door and they nearly collided.

"What's wrong?" Kairi asked, seeing the looks on their faces; Gaden had started crying.

"Run!" Riku said, pushing them rather forcefully out of the doorway as Skye scooped Gaden up into her arms and ran.

"What-!" Sora began to shout, but was silenced with the door all but exploded and the shadows forced their way through. Skye gasped, not having expected the shadows to break down the door with such ease. She stepped backwards, turned on her heel and ran, still holding Gaden in her arms. Riku armed himself and began to slash at the shadow snakes, though it didn't seem to have any effect on them. One shadow caught Skye around the waist and pulled her back, but she burned it, though it took a lot out of her and it didn't ever properly destroy the tendril, it just caused it to recoil.

"Why isn't it working?" She cried, running from the things again. Venus and Mars arrived moments later and formed a wall of stone between the shadow and Skye and Gaden. The shadows collided with it and the stone crumbled into dust, barely slowing down. Skye had come nearly full circle around, and was running back towards her own room, where the base of the shadow vines was, now thick enough to take up the entire doorway. A secondary off shoot emerged from the base and moved to cut her off; she was now surrounded, shadow tentacles coming at her and Gaden from both directions. In a last ditch attempt, Skye enveloped herself and Gaden in flames. The tentacles jabbed into the fire, and for a long moment, there was complete stillness and silence. Riku broke it first by sprinting towards the fire, cutting at the shadow vines every few steps, though it made as little difference as it had made before. Just before he made it, Skye and Gaden were pulled from the fire, thrashing against their unnatural captors. Riku caught Skye's hand as the vines drew her back towards the bedroom. The tentacles didn't even slow down, all it did was pull Riku along, flying through the air, behind. Sora jumped up and grabbed onto the tentacle between Skye and the base, desperate to do something to help. Kairi threw herself at the base of the vine, hoping perhaps to crush it in the doorway, but to no avail. A smaller tentacle shot out, caught her by the ankle and threw her down the hallway. Venus and Mars followed Kairi's line of thinking and tried to shrink the doorway, filling it with stone, in hopes that it might block passage back through. Again, however, it didn't work, and the extra stone in the doorway burst as the vine continued to retract into the room. Sora and Riku were still holding on, but when the vine finally shrunk back into the room, it made a whiplash turn to go back into the bedroom, throwing both Sora and Riku off of it and into the window. Sora collided with it first, bruised but otherwise uninjured. Riku hit it harder and faster, cracking the glass with his shoulder. And before anyone else could do anything else, Skye, Gaden and the vines completely disappeared, leaving only the damaged doorways, a crater-like hole in the bedroom floor and the mattress ripped to shreds. Riku stood up, stumbling towards the bedroom.

"Skye..." He murmured. Then, expression hardening, he punched the wall, the pressure reverberating into his shoulder. The pain made him dizzy, and darkness ate away at the edges of his vision. He collapsed to the floor as Sora walked in.

"Riku!" He pulled his friend back up into the sitting position. Riku gave his head a shake.

"But, we shared a paopu fruit... this wasn't supposed to happen." He sighed. "I guess it really is only a myth. I was stupid to think that it would actually work."

"No way. Don't say that, things will turn out okay."

"How can you say that? She was just eaten by an enormous shadow vine and I don't even know if they could possibly have survived it!"

"Ansem wants them to be on his side. They're too valuable to him for him to hurt them." Sora answered. Riku nodded and stood up, motioning for Sora to follow. They walked out of the room and towards the Council Room. Lodi and Jade were inside, still unaware of what had just taken place.

"Change of plans." Riku said, throwing the doors open. "We leave for the Fortress _now_. Ansem just took Skye and Gaden."

Skye groaned. She didn't bother to open her eyes; she didn't really want to know where she was. She knew that she was lying face down on a cold stone floor, and that it was very damp, but the air around her wasn't particularly cold.

"Hey! Lemme go!" Gaden's voice cried from somewhere near her. Her eyes snapped open and she saw a cloaked figure tugging on Gaden's arm, pulling him to his feet. She recognized the cloak as one belonging to Dax's cronies.

"Don't touch him." She threatened, furious. She pushed herself up into the sitting position, glaring at the cloaked man. He let go of Gaden and walked over to her.

"Still got that fire in you I see. Spirit is dangerous in a woman. Show too much spirit and some men might be inclined to break it." Rio said, pulling back his hood. Skye stood up.

"Don't touch me either, for that matter." She ordered. Rio chuckled cruelly.

"Highly unlikely that I won't." He said, grabbing both of her upper arms.

"Remember what happened last time?"

"Try it." He said, smiling cruelly. She sneered back at him and kneed him in the groin. He jumped backwards, shouting a string of obscenities at her. He fell back, landing hard on his tailbone. She stood over him, arms crossed.

"Careful, next time, I'll burn it." She said, taking Gaden's hand and putting herself between him and Rio. A single person's applause broke the thick silence. Skye looked up and saw another cloaked man walking down a staircase towards them. It was the first time she'd taken notice of her surroundings. It looked like she was in some sort of reception hall.

"Well done Skye." The newcomer said, almost mockingly. He looked down at Rio. "Get out of my sight. I'll deal with you later." He added coldly. Rio got to his feet and slunk away, glaring at Skye as he did so. Skye watched the stranger warily as he approached.

"Who...are you?" Gaden asked, peeking at him from behind her. The cloaked man leaned over so that he was at eye level with Gaden and pulled back his hood, grinning wickedly.

"Come now, don't you recognize you own father?"

Sorry for the shortness, but I felt the need to include a gasp-worthy ending to this chappie, and plus I can't seem to add anything else to it as of now. Maybe the writer's block will go away if I have a fresh slate to work from... anyways, review all!


	23. Chapter 23: The Blue Flame

**Chapter 23: The Blue Flame**

Ansem bowed low. Skye gritted her teeth. She knew very well what was going on, but she was worried about Gaden. However, she hadn't gotten a chance to speak to her younger brother alone since they'd arrived. They'd only been inside the fortress for a few hours, during which Skye and Gaden were prepared to join Ansem's royal court. Skye was wearing a sweeping black dress, and Gaden was in full princely regalia.

"Welcome to my court." Ansem said, showing them into a grand room full of rich-looking people. He'd been treating them like royalty. Indeed, they were royalty, but that didn't change the fact that Skye still knew what he was up to; he wanted to lure them into joining him through showing them the luxuries of royal life. Then they would become entangled in some court politic, giving Ansem complete power over them. But still Skye smiled at him and his guests. She'd play the ignorant girl until they could find their way out. She was just worried about Gaden. He was young, and she couldn't tell whether or not he was falling for the scheme.

"Lords and Ladies!" A voice called out over the mass of people. Quiet fell over the room, lined with marble and engraved with gold. "Please welcome my dear son and daughter, Prince Gaden and Crown Princess Skye, heirs to my throne." Ansem announced. There was applause. Skye felt sick to her stomach. She didn't want to inherit anything that belonged to Ansem. But still she smiled at the people, casting her eyes around the room. Something was strange: there were no guards. Not one in the room. But before she had time to contemplate this, she and Gaden were led down the steps into the main room and Rio was there an instant later.

"May I have this dance?" He asked, offering his hand to her. The very idea was revolting, but all eyes were on her. From now until their escape, she had to play the part. She glanced at Gaden and plastered a fake smile across her face.

"I'd be honoured." She managed to say, placing her hand in his. He led her into the middle of the dance floor and she glanced back to where Gaden was. Ansem was speaking with him...and now leading him towards the side of the room. Rio held one of her hands in his and wrapped his other arm around her waist, uncomfortably tightly. He started to lead her in dance and his hand on her back began to wander lower. She cleared her throat and adjusted her posture to force his hand back up again. She glared at him, a silent warning. He smirked, but she ignored the look on his face and chose to look around at the other people around her. Her eyes fell on another familiar face, and as she looked about the room, her heart leaped into her throat. Nearly all of the people there were somehow related to the resistance. Many of them were secret supporters, some of them were men and women she recognized as ally ship captains from her days hunting slave ships, but all of them were somehow connected to the Rebel City. Her eyes found Ansem again, but this time Gaden wasn't there. There were two guards, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, standing discretely near her little brother, who was waiting where Ansem had left him moments ago. Something was wrong...

"If you'll excuse me, I feel slightly faint." Skye said apologetically to Rio, pulling away from him. He, however, kept his grip on her hand and around her waist.

"Let's just finish this one dance, m'lady." He said, with a hint of a threat in his voice. Her eyes narrowed at him.

"But I feel..." She began to argue, but her eyes rolled back in her head and she went limp, collapsing into him. He nearly dropped her, unprepared for her to fall. Alarm was written all over his face. The other couples around them stopped and tried to help. The commotion caught Ansem's and Gaden's attention. Ansem started to make his way over, and Gaden followed, tugging at Ansem's arm.

"Is it Skye? Is Skye okay? What's going on?"

"Not now." Ansem ordered, pushing Gaden away and making his way through the people to the center where Skye was lying on the floor, with Rio standing over her.

"I-" Rio began to say, but Ansem interrupted him.

"What did you do to her?" He growled in a low tone so none of the others could hear.

"Nothing. She said she was feeling faint and wanted to sit down. I thought she was catching on to the plan so I told her to stay, and she collapsed." Rio whispered in reply.

"Skye!" Gaden cried, pushing through between people's legs and running up to her prone figure. Skye's eyes flickered open for a moment, catching sight of Gaden near by, and closed again, so quickly that only Gaden noticed and he thought that he had imagined it. Then the blinding white light that Gaden would recognize instantly anywhere, shone for a moment next to Skye, but no one else appeared to notice. Not surprising though, as that light signified the coming of a spirit. Gaden squinted for a moment and then blinked in surprise.

"She's alright." Daisy murmered. Gaden stared at the spirit.

"Daisy? Why are you here?" He asked in a whisper. One of the more distinguished looking men standing in the group around them gave him a strange look, but he ignored it.

"I'm here to warn you. Skye's throwing a wrench into Ansem's plan."

"Plan?" Gaden asked, choked.

"Something bad will happen here, and she'll protect these people as best she can, but no matter what you do, you can't listen to Ansem or Rio. They'll try to take you away from Skye, but stay with her, understand?" Daisy asked urgently. She looked up at Ansem and Rio, who were busy discussing whether Skye had really fainted or what she was planning if she was playing at it. Gaden nodded and Daisy disappeared in another flash. He could overhear Ansem and Rio's whispered conversation.

"We can't alarm the guests, at any rate." Ansem said.

"What do we do?" Rio asked, glancing around at the unnerved looks of the people.

"We go on as planned. If she'd really fainted, she won't get in the way, and if she hasn't then it won't be any different from how we were planning to proceed originally." He answered. Then, he lifted his hands and the murmurs throughout the room quieted.

"Everything is going to be just fine. The princess is tired, as she has traveled a long way today, and it looks like her exhaustion has gotten to her. There's nothing to worry about!" He assured everyone. This seemed to satisfy the group and Ansem leaned over to speak to Rio.

"Make it look like you're carrying her out, but make sure you stay where you need to be. And send Gaden over to me once your ready. That will be the signal that everything is ready to start," he muttered before walking away. Rio bent over to pick her up.

"Don't touch me." Skye ordered, her eyes snapping open. Rio was shocked into silence for a moment. Skye seized the chance. She jumped to her feet, knocking Rio over in the process, and grabbing Gaden by the hand.

"EVERYBODY OUT! RUN!" She cried. Many people turned to stare at her. She continued. "Ansem is worse that Dax ever was! He kidnapped Gaden and I! And he's planning something terrible! RUN!" She cried, pushing people towards to door. A few screams echoed through the hall, but Ansem let out a booming laugh.

"Please, everyone relax! Skye is prone to night-terrors. My apologies for her behaviour. Everything is alright. Often it is hard to tell where dream ends and reality begins with night-terrors." He announced. There was a moment's hesitation is the crowd when Skye pushed her way through towards where Ansem was standing.

"How would you know if I had night-terrors? You've never even seen me before today!"

"I'm sorry that I haven't, truly. It's not as if I didn't want to spend time with my children. I'm just a very busy man, and your mother wanted you to have a quiet childhood outside of court life."

"You're right, you are a busy man. You've been busy with trying to destroy the worlds, possessing Riku and trying to kill Sora and Kairi! And then of course, you've been dead for the past 3 years, so I can't particularly blame you for not spending time with us. Though it seems that Dax wanted you fatherly attention much more than Gaden and I ever did." She growled, letting fire grow on her hands. A few of the people there who'd known Skye personally were edging towards the doors. One woman let out a cry.

"They're locked! We're trapped!" She shouted. The hall was plunged into chaos. Rio grabbed Gaden's arm.

"Come on, I'll take you to safety!" He offered, pointing towards one of the closed doors. Gaden almost agreed, but then remembered Daisy's words and pulled away from Rio.

"No! I'm staying with Skye!" He cried, running towards her. Rio grabbed his arm and forcibly tried to drag Gaden away with him.

"You're coming, boy!"

"NO! SKYE!!" Gaden cried. Skye whipped around and practically tackled Rio to the ground. Rio let go of Gaden to wrestle her off, and managed to roll over so that he had her pinned beneath him. His smirk grew lecherous and his hands started to wander. A moment later, he let out a cry of pain and Skye took advantage of his disorientation to kick him off of her. Upon standing up, the fact that his pants were on fire became visible.

"I told you I'd burn it if you tried anything again." She stated, though clearly Rio wasn't listening. She helped Gaden up from where he had fallen, amidst the chaos around her. Then there was silence. Ansem was standing in front of her with an enormous heartless sprouting from his back.

"Sign your allegiance to me in blood and these people will live. Otherwise, you all die." He stated bluntly. Skye glowered at him.

"Don't lie. You'll kill them all anyways, and if I sign my soul away to you, you'll probably make _me_ do it." She spat back at him.

"How would you know what I would do?" Ansem asked, amused.

"I came up with the sickest thing I could think of, and figured that it wouldn't be far off from you actual plan."

"Well said. But you've doomed all these people to their deaths." He said. The eight spidery arms of the heartless shot upwards and burrowed through the roof before dragging chunks of it back down with it again and collapsing the roof over the them. Screams filled the room, but a huge explosion drowned out all other sound, blowing the roof completely off of the hall and sending the rubble flying in many directions, far enough away that no one was endangered. This was shortly followed by the doors around the outside of the room bursting into flame and being reduced to cinders with in seconds. Skye was standing in the very center of the room, fire dancing on both of her hands, Gaden standing just behind her. People were pouring out of the room, and Skye, Gaden and Ansem were the only ones staying still.

"Congratulations. You gave them all another day to live. Most of them won't make it out of the fortress. My guards will see to that. Those who are left will be hunted down once I'm finished with you."

"You assume that you'll win." Skye shot back angrily.

"Of course I'll win. I know the extent of the power of your fire. Where do you think you inherited that power from?" Ansem asked in reply. "Your powers might be incredible compared to the other people on this planet, but the talent with fire that you inherited is nothing but a diluted version of the power I possess. You stand no chance."

"Just like the 14 year old Sora stood no chance."

"Touche. That, however, was a simple mistake in planning on my part. Sheer luck that the boy won. You won't." As he spoke, the Heartless reached out an impossibly long arm and clawed at her. She stepped back out of the way and burnt it to a crisp with no effort. A moment later, however, the arm grew back and Skye paled. Ansem let out a cruel laugh. "You see? You can't defeat me. And then when I'm finished with you, I'll rip your little brother apart piece by piece... and perhaps I will let Riku and Gaden die together." He added cruelly.

"No!" Skye shouted, throwing her hands forward. A massive ball of fire exploded outwards from where Ansem was standing, engulfing him. It swirled around him, condensing back into an impossibly small and bright flame. When Skye finally let it go out, she saw Ansem still standing before her. His clothes were tattered and shredded by the attack, but he and his Heartless were unscathed. "How...?" She breathed, surprised. Ansem let out a laugh.

"I told you, you have no chance. Do you think that your power being with fire was by chance? It came from me. Your fire has as much affect on me as it does on you." He told her with a smirk. "My fire however, will have an adverse effect on you..." As he spoke, a flame unlike anything Skye had ever seen gathered in his palms. It was a flame so black that it gave off no light. Then, without warning, he threw it at her. She gasped, shoving Gaden out of the way, but getting hit herself. She'd never experienced what it felt like to be burned, but the sleeve of her dress had caught on fire and was burning with that darkness. She let out a cry and instinctively put her hand to the wound, though only managed to burn her hand while she was at it. She doubled over and used the bottom of her dress to smother the fire. It worked, but her arm was badly burned. She glared at him. He smirked. Gaden scrambled to his feet and ran over to her.

"Skye! Are you okay?!"

"I'll be fine, Gaden, you have to stay out of the way!" She replied quickly. He ignored her instructions and rested his hands on her arm. She let out a surprised gasp and stared at him as the burning pain suddenly cooled. Her skin seemed to rework itself and it healed completely in seconds.

"That's fairly impressive, little prince. You know, it's really too bad that you didn't agree to join up with us. You'd have made a great asset to my empire. But since you didn't I suppose that I'll have to deal with you the same way as I will deal with Skye. I don't like the idea of having to kill both my children in one day... perhaps I'll just kill Skye and I'll wait until tomorrow to kill you." Ansem said, smirking at Gaden. Skye got to her feet and stood between them again.

"Shut up." She ordered furiously. Ansem answered by throwing another ball of dark fire at her. She countered with a ball of her own fire and they destroyed each other half way between them. Ansem growled at threw a stream of dark fire at her, which she again countered with her own stream. There was a massive explosion once they met, and a continuous shockwave emitting from the point where the fires met pushed her slowly back, like a strong wind. Gaden was standing just behind Skye, and from where he was, he could see Ansem's black flame was slowly overtaking Skye's. Gaden watched with worry, wondering how he could possibly help. He was blinded completely for a moment, and a voice that he's never forget whispered into his hear.

_You're powers are that of light. Only light can ward off the darkness._

It was Daisy. Gaden nodded, blinking as his vision returned to him. He stepped out in front of Skye, underneath her outstretched arms, and wrapped his hands around her wrists. There was a flash and Skye's red-orange flames gained a purple tinge, which grew more blue, and slowly lighter, until it became blindingly bright white. And without warning, another huge explosion sounded, throwing both Skye and Gaden backwards a great distance, engulfing them in light. Skye collided with a wall and hit the ground hard, sliding across a section of broken glass, slashing up her arms and torso fairly badly. Gaden hit the ground in a spot full of rubble, bruising but otherwise unharmed. The light faded, and Skye sat up, groaning.

"Gaden?" She asked, crawling towards him. He got to his feet and stumbled towards the place where Ansem had been. He was gone, no evidence of him ever having been there, except for a small Heartless shield brooch that he'd been wearing on his cloak. It was all that was left. Gaden picked it up and walked back over to Skye, rubbing his eyes and yawning. She crossed her legs, drawing in a sharp breath at the pain. Gaden bent over her.

"I can fix you." He murmured, clearly exhausted. He placed his hands over each of her legs. The cooling sensation of healing was very subtle, almost non-existant. He managed to heal most of her worst wounds on her legs before collapsing into her lap, fast asleep. Skye smiled tiredly, hugging him close and nearly falling asleep herself. The heartless pendant slipped from Gaden's hands and onto the floor. Skye picked it up and then placed it on the floor in front of her. She passed her fingers over it, a blue flame rising over it. It melted readily before burning completely, disappearing in a matter of moments. A loud bang at the door drew her attention. She looked up, still holding Gaden gently, and watched with only a mild interest as the banging continued. After a minute or two, the door burst open.

"Skye!"

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Riku was pacing the deck of the ship, staring out over the water. The coastline, with the Fortress looming over it, was just visible on the horizon, but the winds had died completely and there was nothing to do but wait for a breeze to pick up again. Sora was standing at the bow, arms crossed, watching Riku pace back and forth.

"If it makes you feel any better, I know how you feel. But Kairi was okay in the end, and Skye will be too. She can take care of herself." He said.

"Yeh, well, hate to tell you, but it doesn't make me feel much better." Riku snapped. Sora sighed and Riku looked at him. "Sorry I just..."

"I know, it's okay." Sora answered. Lodi came out onto deck and let out a long, frustrated breath.

"If the wind doesn't pick up soon, we may try dropping anchor here and rowing a lifeboat into shore." He said, squinting out towards the shoreline.

"We can do that?" Riku asked anxiously.

"Sure, but it would take hours to row that far..."

"We're not getting anywhere just waiting here! How many people can fit into one of these boats?"

"Six, but only two can row, so the fewer, the faster." Lodi answered.

"Then I'll go with Riku." Sora offered. Lodi crossed his arms.

"You can't talk on an entire army! Ansem's full force is inside that Fortress! You two can't stand up to that alone!"

"Watch us." Sora answered simply, grinning ans following Riku to the lifeboats.

The boat reach the shore just over an hour later.

"Alright?" Riku asked Sora, breathing heavily.

"We should probably rest here for a minute. We've been out on the water for an hour, and it's no good trying to take on the soldiers when we're already so tired." A massive explosion sounded overhead, and bits of rock and wood rained down around them a moment later. Sora stared up at the fortress. "Okay, scratch that idea." The said, climbing out of the boat and setting off at a run with Riku towards the front gates of the fortress. They encountered a pair of guards standing at the gate, who drew their swords as Riku and Sora approached.

"His majesty is having a private ball. I'm sorry, but I can't admit you." The elder of the two soldiers told them, masking contempt with apology. Riku blinked.

"His...majesty?" He asked slowly. The soldier stared at him, wondering if something was wrong with him. Then Sora burst out laughing.

"Ansem is 'his majesty'? Hahaha! He's only been alive for a week and he's crowned himself already! He's so full of himself!" Sora continued to laugh helplessly until the younger guard poked him with the tip of his sword.

"_Don't_ mock his majesty." He said firmly, slightly angrily. Riku chuckled and crossed his arms.

"He's not that majestic you know." As he spoke, the sound of terrified voices echoed through the castle's walls. The younger soldier turned around.

"The guests?" He asked quietly, thinking that Riku and Sora couldn't hear him.

"Looks like the princess is more of a problem than we'd imagined." He replied, keeping one eye on Riku and Sora. _The princess?_ Riku wondered. Then it occurred to him who they meant.

"What is he doing to Skye?" He demanded, this Keyblade instantly in his hand. The younger turned and stared at him.

"You're rebels!" He exclaimed, holding his sword out warily at them. Riku knocked the weapon aside with his Keyblade.

"We are, and you're going to keep quiet about it, got it?" He said threateningly. As he spoke, the gate burst open and people in clothes fit for royalty began to pour out. The two guards tried to stop as many as they could, slashing indiscriminately at the terrified mass. A larger group of guards followed the crowd out, stabbing and slashing with intent to kill as many as possible. Sora cast a sheet of ice across the ground, sending many soldier's feet flying out from under them and causing a great deal of chaos, allowing a number of the crowd to escape. Sora, along with a few of the men from the mass who had regrouped and drawn weapons, stood between the still-confused soldiers and the fleeing crowd.

"Riku! Go find Skye and Gaden! I'll come find you once we're finished here!" Sora shouted, motioning for Riku to go on.

"She's in the main hall with the King! It's on the second floor of the main keep!" One of the men standing against the soldiers alongside Sora offered. Riku thanked him and ran into the castle. The fortress was nearly deserted. He reached the doors of the main hall, and found them locked tight. A second, larger explosion sounded. The sonic wave from it, even through the door, made Riku stumble backwards. He jumped to his feet and ran at the door, trying to break it down. It gave way, but didn't open fully. He smashed into it again. The already weakened door burst open. A badly injured Skye was sitting in the center of the room, holding a sleeping Gaden.

"Skye!" He shouted, running into the room and dropping to his knees next to her. She smiled up at him and he pulled her into a tight embrace. Gaden squirmed.

"You're smushing me." He murmured. Riku pulled away, allowing Gaden to crawl out from between them, before pulled Skye back into a proper embrace. She smiled, returning the hug, despite the cuts and burns still covering her body. When Riku loosened his arms around her, looking into her eyes, he could see that they'd filled with tears from the pain of contact against her injuries. He gasped.

"Skye! Are you alright?" He asked, inspecting her arms. Her dress was tattered and a few of the cuts were visible through the holes in the fabric.

"I'm fine." She lied, hissing in pain as she tried to stand. Riku helped her to her feet, supporting her with arms around her shoulders. She held her own weight for a few seconds before her legs gave out on her again and she nearly fell, but Riku was able to catch her in time. He lifted her completely off the ground in both arms. She buried her face in his shoulder to hid her grimace. Gaden started to lead them out, but nearly collapsed from exhaustion. It seemed that he'd completely spent all of his energy on helping and healing Skye. Riku paused, wondering how he was ever going to help both Skye and Gaden outside, much less deal with any guards they might encounter. Sora burst through the door a moment later.

"The guards are starting to figure out that Ansem's dead. They're all giving up." He stated to Riku, who nodded thankfully. Sora then looked at Gaden, who was getting to his feet and mumbling something about showing them the way out. Sora leaned over so that he was on eye level with the boy. "How about I give you a piggy back and you tell me which way to go to get out, okay?" He asked. Gaden grinned sleepily and nodded. Sora turned around and lifted Gaden on to his back, and he and Riku started the trek back to the boat.

Lodi and Jade were standing on the deck of the ship, having only just made it to the docks at the fortress. The wind picked up shortly after the first explosion, and they made the best use of it that they possibly could, making it to the dock in a surprisingly short time. The crew was tying the ship down and preparing to invade the fortress. Each Lodi and Jade were wondering what Sora and Riku were doing and how close they were to finding Skye. As they prepared to land, Sora and Riku appeared at the top of the cliffs above the docks. Gaden was fast asleep on Sora's back, and Riku was carrying a very battered-looking Skye.

"Bring them down here!" Jade called up to them. "I'll need to look at the both of them!" She paused before smiling and adding, "Well done boys!"

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AHHHHHH!!!! That was my last real chapter! Next one is more or less an epilogue, but it will involve some fluffy cuteness and humor worth waiting for, so be sure to check it out. Next up: my first yaoi fic! Here we go!!!!


	24. Epilogue: 6 Months Later

**Epilogue: Six Months Later**

The courtyard was bright and full of people. The moonlight shone brightly down on the revelers. Lanterns were strung across the yard, casting the people in a warm light. Prince Erik's coronation had finally come to pass, and the entire Rebel City was at the palace for the proceedings. Arm in arm, Riku and Skye were sitting on a bench beneath one of the blossoming cherry trees, watching Sora, Kairi and Gaden all dancing in a circle. They were being silly, giggling helplessly at each other's antics.

"Care to join them?" Skye asked. Riku nodded and stood up with her, but before they got to chance to go anywhere, the newly crowned king approached them.

"Evening." Erik greeted them with a smile. He'd relaxed a great deal since Ansem's defeat.

"Congratulations." Skye and Riku answered in unison. He grinned.

"Thanks. I never got a chance to thank you both for everything you've done. I don't know what would have happened without you two."

"I'm jut glad that everything has gone back to the way it was supposed to be." Skye answered. A sound caught her attention and she glanced over Erik's shoulder to see a pair of young women glancing furtively at Erik and giggling. She laughed. "Being royalty has made you popular with the ladies, apparently." She noted. Erik glanced at them, hiding a smile and a blush.

"Because it looks like I'll need to find myself a queen, now that you've got Riku." He noted, before wandering off to chat with Venus.

"What... did he mean by that?" Riku asked, slightly suspicious. Skye grinned.

"You know, before I ended up on the Islands, a couple problems came up. We figured that once Dax was gone and Erik returned to the throne, some people would have problems accepting the transfer of power. There would be people out there who would refuse Erik as a leader and demand that Lodi lead Gova. It would split the country, and it might even rise to civil war. So, we decided that Erik, being heir to the throne, and I, Jade and Lodi's almost-daughter, should be married once the war was over." She explained, acting as if it was no big deal. There was a long silence and Riku looked seriously at her.

"...Did you love him...?" He asked quietly. Skye smiled at him.

"It was supposed to be a marriage of convenience. We got along well enough, but it wasn't anything more than that. You're the only one I'd want to marry." She assured him, going up onto her tip-toes to kiss him gently. He smiled and pulled her closer, deepening the kiss. A jube-jube hit Riku across the back of the head, followed by Sora shouting.

"Get a room!" He called, laughing. Riku twisted around and crossed his arms.

"No." He said bluntly. Sora shrugged.

"Okay." And with that, he returned to dancing with Kairi and Gaden. Riku wrapped one arm around Skye and they walked together out onto the dance floor. His thoughts returned to Skye's words about marriage...

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Lodi was sitting in the quiet of his study, looking over a plan in front of him. There was a knock at the door.

"Come in." He called, looking up. The door opened with a creak and Riku slipped inside the room. Lodi smiled. "Hello Riku, what can I do ya for?" He asked, leaning forward in his chair. Riku looked at the ground and thought about how to say what he wanted to.

"Well... Skye said that you were like her father, right?" He asked slowly.

"Absolutely." Lodi answered confidently. "She's the closest thing to a daughter I've had." He added, his tone revealing his pride in her. Riku smiled.

"Okay, well, since you're like her father, I guess you're the one whose blessing I need to be asking for..."

"Blessing? For what?" Lodi asked, interestedly.

"I...I want to ask her to marry me..." Riku said quietly. Lodi grinned.

"Well, then, you most certainly have my blessing." Lodi said. Riku beamed. Lodi leaned back in his chair. "Go make my girl happy."

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I know it's short, but it's just an epilogue. Plus I'm writing in the dark... anyways, hope you guys liked it! I love you all my dear reviewers!!!


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